


Resolution

by AttackPlatypus, BadGoose



Series: The Perseverance-verse [8]
Category: MMA - Fandom, Professional Wrestling
Genre: 5 Years Later, Charlotte and Becky have a Daughter!, F/F, F/M, MMA, Sequel, Someone dies!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:47:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 70,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21915469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AttackPlatypus/pseuds/AttackPlatypus, https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadGoose/pseuds/BadGoose
Summary: The sequel you knew you needed to the story no one asked for...ResolutionSet 5-years after the events of Perseverance our girls are living their best lives:Becky: No longer Bantamweight champion and unsurprisingly at peace with it, Becky is finding her way as a mom when a surprising challenge calls her back.Charlotte: Now one of the most respected figures in the BFA Charlotte manages not only her team and business but also her home life a young daughter. Plus, family has a way of being messy.Sasha: Currently in the midst of a 2+ year run as BFA's Flyweight champion, Sasha has been steadily nurturing a business empire that has turned the boss into an international brand.Bayley: The host of the MMAyley Report on ESPN Bayley is one of the most beloved figures in MMA and is seeking new mountains to climb.
Relationships: Charlotte/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Sasha Banks/Bayley | Davina Rose
Series: The Perseverance-verse [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1469225
Comments: 82
Kudos: 98





	1. The Accident

_Bayley looked absolutely radiant in her dress and it seemed as though the whole world knew it. It was as though nature had fashioned the perfect day for this event, sapphire blue water meeting the palest blue sky, golden sun, the softest of breezes, and yet all of it was so much background filler. Nothing in the world could compare to the woman standing across from Sasha._

_Bayley’s gown was an elegant off the shoulder affair with only the barest touch of lace and a minimal train. Sasha already believed that Bayley was the most beautiful creature in the world, but today she was positively radiant. Sasha could never remember being even fractionally as happy as she was today. And all of this overpowering celestial joy burst into a kaleidoscopic display of fireworks within her heart as Bayley said those final words._

_“I do.”_

It was dark around her, yet not dark. Sasha’s vision was swimming and fading in and out. Her mind was bobbing up and down on the strangest sensation. Was it possible to burning alive in agony while simultaneously numb? Everything in Sasha hurt, yet...nothing did. Sasha knew pain, she’d lived with it for years as part of her job. But this was beyond anything she’d ever known in a cage. Or was it just a background murmur.

She was dimly aware now of noises around her, but she could make no sense of them. Was it a voice? Some blurry lights appeared but they were indistinct, as though viewed through a foggy window. Nothing seemed to be making sense to her. It was like being punch drunk, but many times worse. 

Where was she?

_Sasha felt the warm pressure of Bayley’s hand in hers as they ate._ _  
_ _  
_ _Sasha and Bayley had elected to dine by themselves before rejoining the rest of their wedding party for the reception. They had wanted their first meal as a married couple to be special and private. So here they sat, side by side, almost unaware of the food they were putting into their mouths. They were lost in each other’s presence._

_Setting her fork down, Bayley rested her head on Sasha’s shoulder and closed her eyes. This prompted her to turn and place a kiss on her wife’s head. “I love you, Sasha Banks,” Bayley whispered._

_“I love you too.”_

_They sat like that for a long time, their food forgotten. They might have stayed there all night if there hadn’t been a knock on the door. Most people would have tapped gently on the polished wood, but this was more like a hammer. Which left them both with little doubt who it was._

_“Hey! Lovebirds! You got a lot of people out there waiting to say hello!” Meng’s sour voice said. Sasha and Bayley shared a grin._

There was a distant but persistent buzzing in Sasha’s mind now. No, not in it, it was coming from the outside. Sasha still couldn’t see clearly but she had the distinct sense that the buzzing meant something. She tried to focus but found that her mind wasn’t entirely hers to command. Whenever she tried to direct her attention the pounding agony in every cell of her body would surge to the top of her consciousness. 

Best to just...drift away…

But the buzzing wouldn’t stop. Sasha frowned, even though it made her entire face howl in protest. Finally, something clunked into place in her mind and she realized that it wasn’t buzzing. But what was it? Words...that was it. Someone was speaking...somewhere? She couldn’t make any sense of it, however. Besides, there was an even louder sound suddenly filling the whole world. She guessed it might be coming from somewhere behind her but...she was tired now.

Time to just take a quick nap. She was so tired.

_“Calm down, Sasha,” Bayley said in a half bemused half worried voice from where she sat against the waiting room wall. She was reading a magazine that was several months out of date. They were both where they had been for the last six hours, in one of the waiting rooms at LA General Hospital._

_“How can I be calm? She got here hours ago and they said ‘any time’. What the hell, do words just not mean anything anymore? Five hours is not ‘any time’, Bayley!” Sasha shot back._

_Bayley didn’t lower her magazine but Sasha had the distinct impression she was smiling to herself when she replied. “You’re adorable when you’re worried. But you must relax, you’d think you were the one in labor and not Charlotte.”_

_It could still sometimes amaze Sasha how close she and Charlotte Flair had become in the last few years, given where they’d started from. But now, here she and Bayley were, waiting in eager anticipation for the arrival of their godchild. Becky was in the room with her wife, though the one update she’d been able to sneak out and give had made clear the Irish woman wasn’t entirely comfortable there._

_“Don’t even joke!” Sasha shot back._

_“Well, think of it as practice for when we’re ready…” Bayley said idly as she turned a page of her magazine._

_“What?!” Sasha yelped, so loud that a nurse and two orderlies gave her disapproving looks._

_Bayley lowered her magazine to wink at her wife. “Discussion for another time.”_

Sasha could see now, but it wasn’t much of a blessing. The only view being of the roof of an ambulance. At least, she assumed she was seeing the roof of an ambulance. She’d only been dimly aware of being pulled from her seat and gently set on a firm surface. She’d been trying to speak to the people around her since then but something was wrong.

Sasha could think the words, she could form them in her mouth, but something went wrong then. She couldn’t get them to leave her mouth. She had to ask the question! She needed to know! Why couldn’t they understand her?! She wanted to scream in frustration but she couldn’t move. Seemingly the only part of her body that was listening to her were the fingers of her left hand. She clenched and unclenched them feverishly, taking advantage of the sudden lessening of the pain in her body.

She must have made some noise because a paramedic leaned over her. “Ms. Banks? Can you hear me?”

Sasha managed a gurgle.

“We’re taking you to a hospital, you’ve been a serious car accident.”

Sasha tried again, but nothing came out. Why wouldn’t anyone answer her? She had to know!

_Sasha didn’t like wearing dresses, not particularly. But she was also perfectly ready to admit that she looked fucking spectacular in them. And she was even happier to hear this from others._

_Walking down red carpets was something she was used to, but she’d been surprised how well Bayley had handled it. Surprised, but gratified. And it had been a lot of fun to pose for photos with her wife, the cameras had eaten it up. Sasha had even prevailed on Bayley to give them a shot of a quick kiss between them._

_But all that giddiness was gone, replaced by nerves more profound than any she’d ever experienced before a fight. She was literally crossing her fingers on one hand as she worked not to wince at the vice-like grip Bayley had on the other. She couldn’t say anything however as the amplified voice of the presenter was already booming through the auditorium._

_“And the winner of the Sports Emmy for best daily studio show is….”_

_Bayley’s grip on Sasha’s hand intensified until it felt like it was caught in a black hole._

_“THE MMAYLEY REPORT ON ESPN!”_

_Sasha shot to her feet, applauding as she shouted louder than anyone else in the auditorium._

_Bayley’s face was red but she was wearing the wild, world brightening smile, that Sasha loved so much as she stood. Sasha couldn’t resist planting half a dozen kisses on her face and squeezing her hand before watching as Bayley made her way to the stage._

The familiar voice was enough to bring Sasha back to wakefulness. 

“Sasha! _Mi amor!_ Can you hear me?” Bayley was saying as she looked down at Sasha with a tear-stained face. But something was different in her wife’s voice.

“Bayley…” Sasha breathed, the pain was back now though and she had to squeeze her eyes shut against it. It was only then that she realized that she was moving, and swiftly, down a hallway. Bayley sounded odd because she was having to jog alongside Sasha. 

“You’re in the hospital Sasha, but it’s going to be alright, OK? The doctors will take care of you,” Bayley said before she suddenly stopped and was whisked out of sight. Sasha wanted to shout at the others around her to stop. She wanted to see her wife, tell her she loved her, tell her all the things she needed to…

But most importantly, she wanted to ask the question.

  
  


**Becky**

When Becky’s alarm went off at five in the morning everything was completely normal. From her initial groan and quickly turning off said alarm. To the way Charlotte slept through the noise, hardly even shifting at all. Her knee clicked like it always did when she swung her legs over the side of the bed and pushed up to her feet. 

A rare vacation had brought them to Becky’s home country of Ireland but that didn’t change her routine. A long time ago she would have scoffed at the notion of a routine, even when she had tried them they had never stuck. Over the years she’d come to appreciate the normalcy. No matter the weather she’d start her day off before anyone else in the house was awake. The hour of solitude and working out her body helped keep her head on straight through all the ups and downs. 

After she quickly slipped into a sports bra and some leggings Becky bent down to place a feather-light kiss on Charlotte’s temple. Quietly leaving the room and transitioning outside so she could begin her run. Taking care to thoroughly stretch herself out. Making sure her knee was well warmed up before hitting the pavement. 

  
Even years later the old knee injury from her and Sasha’s first fight sent her not so gentle reminders. She’d kept working on it but it never got back to exactly how it felt before the ligaments in her knee tore apart. At one point she may have blamed the other fighter for it but that was fighting. No one entered the cage without knowing the reality. She’d once heard someone describe MMA as high-level chess with potentially massive physical consequences and it was probably the best description for the sport she loved. 

As much as the sport had taken away from her, it had given her far more; money, fame, a job that she loved but that was all the surface level. MMA had given her a home, a place to feel safe and be herself. Most importantly it had brought her together with the woman she couldn’t imagine not waking up next to. It had helped give her a family.

She’d take the occasional clicking and fatigue in her knee. She’d take the headaches, the bruises, the long hours of grueling work that a top-level fighter needed to put in to stay on top. Becky would do it all over again in a heartbeat as long as it meant Charlotte and her beautiful daughter Siobhan were there by her side. 

At one point in time, Becky defined herself strictly by what she’d accomplished in her career, but the belts on her mantle meant less and less with each passing day. She still cherished them, especially the one she’d won in her and Sasha’s second fight. That particular belt would always mean more to her than any other. It was an emblem of more than just a simple victory over the toughest opponent in her entire career. 

Becky’s feet pounded against the Irish pavement, echoing up into her ears in the calm silence of morning before the rest of the world woke up. The taste of moisture in the air and a chill wind caressing the landscape as the sun slowly woke up from its slumber. Casting an ethereal orange glow over the world as she thought back to that night while she continued to run. 

She could vividly remember the buzz of energy that had filled the building. During the fight itself, there were multiple times when Becky could remember feeling as if the very ground she stood on was shifting from the vibration of the crowd. At the end of the five rounds, no one could be sure of who the winner was. The minutes of tension as they stood. Canvas stained with blood and sweat beneath their feet. Waiting and waiting for the official decision to come down.

When she got back to the villa they’d rented Becky could feel the burn in her lungs that let her know it had been a great run. 

Life had been dramatically different for the fighter since her daughter had entered the world. She’d continue to fight over the years but the number of times per year dwindled. 

Each time she fought Becky the weight of what she missed hung around her neck like an albatross. She could still remember the first time Charlotte called her beaming with the news. 

  
She’d been in Florida for a fight a little over eight months after the birth. Becky had to be pushed to even accept the fight, wanting to spend more time with her daughter. It wasn’t like she needed the money. But Shane McMahon, the owner of the BFA, didn’t much care. He apparently couldn’t afford to have a champion sit out any longer without defending the belt and threatened to strip her of the title if she didn’t accept the fight. 

  
On one level Becky couldn’t really blame him. If she was one of the other women in the division and the champion, even without being injured, wasn’t actively fight, she’d have been frustrated. 

When Charlotte called her and she saw her beautiful wife and their daughter sitting in her lap Becky was hit with the weight of being away from them. Since the birth she’d been around constantly, bringing Siobhan along to the gym during her classes. Rarely letting either of her girls out of her sight for more than a couple hours. 

The tears that had sprung up hadn’t been faked and she couldn’t have stopped them if she tried. Smiling broadly through the connection at her daughter and waving at the baby who was still too young to realize it was her mother inside the phone screen. 

When Charlotte had told her about Siobhan taking her first steps earlier today it had been a kick to the gut. She’d smiled and asked about everything. Convinced that she was being selfish for being upset. As if somehow the world should stop just because Becky wanted it to. 

Shane had grown even more resentful towards her over the years. It was public knowledge at this point that the CEO didn’t get along with one of his champions. He’d badmouthed her at events she wasn’t even at, telling the world that she was ducking fights. It had all come to a head when he’d made the executive decision to take her title when she had to pull out of a fight because her knee was giving her problems after she’d tweaked it during a wrestling practice. 

Even though the surgery was small, it would still take her out of action for another few months and Shane took the opportunity to vacate the belt and set up another fight for the title without her. 

She’d ended up learning about it when Bayley had stopped by after her surgery. Becky had still been a little loopy from the pain pills but she hadn’t missed the frown on the normally upbeat woman’s face. 

  
Needless to say, she hadn’t been too happy upon hearing the news. The nurses on the level tried to calm her down but nothing worked until Charlotte came back with Siobhan in her arms.

  
Of everyone Shane could have picked to replace her he’d chosen her close training partner and the woman she’d been teaching everything she knew, Toni Storm. She’d been ecstatic for the other woman. Toni had even come to ask her for her blessing and Becky wouldn’t dare stand in the younger woman’s way. 

When she won the belt she’d been even happier for Storm. There was no jealousy or anger towards Toni. She still didn’t like Shane but not having the belt anymore actually felt freeing. The constant pressure to always be at your best. The extra media you were obligated to do as champion. It really drained on a person. And that wasn’t even factoring in the fact that she now had a child. 

All of a sudden she hadn’t fought in over a year and she heard the whispers, the rumors that she was retired. Becky still trained like she was an active fighter but she wasn’t in any rush to fight again. She still was hoping for that third fight with Sasha, belt or no belt. At this point in her career, she wanted fights that interested her. 

Becky closed the door of the villa behind herself and beelined for the fridge. Pulling out a premade protein shake and downing the contents in a few massive gulps. Quickly jumping into the shower downstairs so she didn’t have to wake up Charlotte. Just because she continued to get up early on vacation didn’t mean the blonde wanted to. A fact she’d learned the hard way on their first joint vacation when she hadn’t been particularly quiet in the morning getting ready for a run. A spur of the moment trip to the Carribean after she’d finally been cleared to fly after the damage she’d taken in the second fight with Sasha. She didn’t fancy spending another night of vacation on the floor. Or worse. Without any chance of sex. 

By the time she’d gotten out of the shower, Becky knew that in about twenty minutes Charlotte would slowly make her way downstairs. Another ten after that the scent of ham and eggs would bring her daughter down.

Becky moved around the kitchen at lightspeed, pulling out pans and prepping everything she’d need to make her family breakfast. Charlotte was great at many things, but cooking just wasn’t one of them. 

Becky had never been particularly skilled in that area until after Charlotte had gotten pregnant by the donor they’d both picked together. 

They’d hadn’t come to the decision lightly and had gone back and forth about every aspect of the pregnancy. 

Charlotte hadn’t wanted Becky to sacrifice her fighting career to carry the baby and reasoned that she would still be able to work while pregnant, so it just made sense for the blonde to carry their child. 

Her wife had brought up the idea of mixing their eggs but Becky had brushed it off. Quickly distracting the other woman from following up on the idea. 

It wasn’t something she’d ever divulged to Charlotte, but she didn’t want any possibility their daughter would inherit her struggle with depression or alcoholism. 

The self-doubt had hit her hard. What if she wasn’t a good mother? What if she wasn’t ready? What if… What if… What if…

Of everyone to have noticed Becky wouldn’t have guessed Sasha would be the first. They’d become good friends eventually, but before Siobhan came along there was always an undercurrent of tension whenever they were around each other. It still existed but it wasn’t as volatile as it had been. On some level, they both desired a third fight to break the tie between them but both were far too proud to say it out loud. Instead opting to gain small victories in whatever around them they could make into a competition. Something that at times grated on their respective partners' nerves. Especially when they got carried away in public places. 

Sasha had moved up to featherweight and won the title their sometime after their fight and it had been even harder for them to get matched against each other. In all honesty, they were such big names they could probably just ask for it but once again their pride got in the way. Becky was seriously considering asking for it now that she didn’t hold the title but was still hesitant to look like she was desperate to break the tie.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of her wife’s footsteps descending the stairs. 

  
Before Charlotte even asked Becky was already sliding a steaming mug of coffee onto the table in front of a waiting chair. Silently going back to the stovetop and flipping the ham over before it burnt. 

Charlotte watched her wife move around the kitchen as she gracefully sat down and took a few sips from her mug. Entranced by the way Becky’s long vermillion hair gently swayed with her movement. Still damp from the shower and curling slightly at the end as it dried. 

  
“How was your run?” She asked. Taking another sip before standing up from the table and walking around the counter behind Becky. Looping her arms around the redhead’s waist and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before letting her chin rest on Becky’s shoulder. “Meet any leprechauns out there?”

Becky chuckled, leaning back into the blonde’s body. “Not today lass. Don’t really need the luck, or the pot o’ gold anyway. Got everythin’ I want right here.”

It was the sort of comment she’d grown to expect from Becky. Cheesy, almost to a fault, but so genuine she couldn’t help smiling as she rolled her eyes. “I love you too champ.”

“Ugh, stop callin’ me that. I thought you said you wouldn’t?” Becky pouted as she cracked a few eggs into separate bowls. One scrambled with a knob of organic butter for Siobhan, another for herself for an egg white omelet with spinach and a pair for Charlotte’s sunny side up. “Don’t even have the belt anymore.” She said, unable to hide the small sliver of irritation at how it all was handled. To lose your belt without actually losing it in a fight had never stuck right with her. She’d even confided as much in Toni after a grueling training session between the two. 

Becky respected Toni so much and was immensely proud of her for getting the belt. Ever since the New Zealander had joined the gym Becky had taken her under her wing. She’d even been in her corner for every fight the younger woman had taken since joining. 

  
The saying, ‘Iron sharpens iron’ wasn’t always true but in this case, it was. Toni improved leaps and bounds working with Becky. Having the champion of your division as a resource and sparring partner every day was a luxury and she’d taken full advantage. 

That’s not to say it wasn’t mutual. Becky appreciated having someone to pass on her knowledge to and Toni was an amazing student. Everything between them clicked into place like a Lego set. 

“Well, you’ll always be a champ to me,” Charlotte said softly. Watching over the redhead’s shoulder as she prepared breakfast for them. 

Becky smiled but quickly cleared her throat and shooed the other woman away. “Just go drink yer coffee woman. Let me cook in peace. Don’t want to burn everythin’ like a certain someone.”

Charlotte went to sit back down in a huff. “I swear, you burn a few enchiladas and no one lets you live it down.”

The two continued to banter back and forth for a few minutes as Becky put the finishing touches on their food. Pulling over some plates and serving everything up just as a pair of feet came barreling down the stairs at high speed. 

“Slow down on the stairs!” Charlotte yelled. Both women in the kitchen grinning from the sudden audible decrease in speed. Picking up speed again as soon as they hit the floor. 

Becky turned around and kneeled down to capture the little blonde lightning bolt that dashed in the kitchen. Scooping her up in her arms and lifting her high above her head while making horribly unrealistic airplane noises. 

“Becky! Put her down.” Charlotte's voice taking on a faux seriousness. “Lil Boss needs to eat before it gets cold.”

Becky whirled on Charlotte. Slowly lowering her daughter back to ground while fixing the blonde with an evil glare. Her wife knew exactly how much the nickname annoyed her but Siobhan really did love her Aunt Sasha and had accepted the moniker like it was her real name. “Ruin my fun why don’t you.”

She felt a small hand pull at her shorts and Becky looked down into the sparkling green eyes of her daughter. It didn’t take much to remember why she was let Siobhan keep the nickname. She couldn’t say no to that face. “What are we doing today _madre_? Are we goin’ to see Finn again?”

They’d just been over to Becky’s old gym yesterday. “Nope. We’re gonna go fer a hike out on the coast. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Siobhan just shrugged and acted like it was no big deal. “I guess.” The nickname Lil Boss wasn’t exactly made without merit.

Becky rolled her eyes but kept a broad smile as she poked her daughter in the ribs where she knew the young girl was ticklish. “Really? You guess?” Poking her a few more times, until Siobhan began to flinch away and laugh. “Then I guess you don’t want to go swimming when we get back. I’ll just have to go to the gym all alone.” Becky dramatically exclaimed as her fingers continued to dance. 

“STOP! Stop! I want to go!” Siobhan cried out through the laughter. Playfully fighting back and establishing some defensive wrist control and jiu-jitsu Becky had taught her, which might have worked had she not been so much smaller than her mom. “I’ll go!”

Charlotte watched her wife and daughter’s antics with a wry smile. She’d seen Becky do this enough to barely think anything of it. In her wife’s own way she was using the play to teach their daughter some basic self-defense and to be confident in her own body. To know her limits but keep pushing them. “Ok you two, enough horsing around. You’re both letting your food get cold and we have to get going in an hour if we want to make it home in time.”

“Spoilsport,” Becky mumbled cheekily. Earning a tiny giggle and a grin from Siobhan and a quick glare from Charlotte.

“Don’t set a bad example, Rebecca. Please apologize for talking back to me.” Charlotte knew she had Becky backed into a corner and relished in it. With Siobhan in the room, Becky always tried to be on her best behavior and Charlotte couldn’t lie and say she’d never used that fact to her advantage. 

Becky gritted her teeth but knew she’d trapped herself. It was difficult to discipline a child for something that she openly did. Learning to stop swearing around Siobhan had been a difficult task. She’d had to employ everyone in the gym to help catch her when she slipped until it finally became second nature. “Sorry Charlie.” Switching to look at her daughter as she continued, “It was wrong of me to talk back to you.” Hoping that the old phrase ‘monkey see, monkey do’ would work here. 

As they all finally sat and enjoyed their respective plate of food Becky couldn’t help looking around the table and smiling while she chewed a mouthful of fluffy omelet. She’d never have thought herself capable of something so domestic, but now that she had it she couldn’t imagine life without her family anymore. It would be like losing a limb. 

A few minutes later a series of light ding noises came from her phone, distracting Becky from the next fork of speared ham and pulling her attention to the device. 

She casually unlocked her phone while taking a long drink of fresh orange juice. Scrolling mindlessly through the bevy of notifications and messages that greeted her every morning.

A particular notification captured her attention as soon as she saw it. The abbreviated headline ‘Sasha Banks in-’ making her wonder what the other woman was up to. They’d talked a week ago and Sasha hadn’t mentioned any new fight news, but things can change unbelievably quick in this business. 

She had no idea how right she was until she clicked on the link and her heart stopped. Becky felt like she was floating away from her own body as she read. Barely paying attention to what she saw beyond her mind picking out keywords; Sasha, accident, critical condition, dead. 

“What is it, honey?” 

Becky looked up at Charlotte’s question but her mouth wouldn’t work. She felt like she was living in an entirely different world all of a sudden, glimpsing back into the old reality she’d happily been living in just seconds ago and her family still was in. She didn’t want to be the one to take that from them but they needed to know.

She slid her phone over to her wife with a grim look on her face. “We need to get to California.”

  
  


**Sasha**

(Two days after the accident)

Sasha’s eyes opened.

For a moment she felt a flare of panic at her unfamiliar, dark surroundings. Then a wave of pain more powerful than anything she’d ever experienced collided with her like a meteor. It was so intense that it spilled from one sense to another. Her vision clouded, an acrid stench filled her nostrils, a metallic taste pervaded her mouth, she heard a claxon in her ears. All she wanted to do was scream like an animal in a trap.

What came out was a low moaning. A moaning that did nothing to allay her pain. Though it did have another effect.

“Hey...hey...Sasha, _mi amor,_ can you hear me?” Bayley’s voice said from beside her. Sasha tried to respond but another wave of agony hit and all thought was wiped from her mind. She was vaguely aware of a tear running down her cheek as she grunted again, the most powerful reaction available to her.

“Sasha? Are you in pain?” 

A small part of her mind, one that wasn’t completely overrun with pain, reflected that this was a seriously dumb question. But she didn’t have a chance to dwell on this as more pain, even more intense now, blossomed inside of her. She began feebly twisting from side to and groaning, hoping this would convince Bayley or anyone to take the pain away.

“Nurse? Nurse!” she dimly heard Bayley shouting. The pain just kept ramping higher and higher within Sasha, and she couldn’t even scream. This made anything she’d ever endured in a cage look like a pinprick. Sasha was drowning in it, being consumed by it, and all she wanted was to die and be released from it.

She thought she heard people, more people, by her side but she couldn’t be sure. All she knew was that after several more eons of submersion in an ocean of suffering, came blessed nothingness.

Or, almost nothingness. Sasha’s pain maddened mind presented her with one dream over and over again as she slept. She was back in what she now realized had been the accident that the paramedic in the ambulance and mentioned. She was staring out the windshield as a familiar voice from beside her was...laughing. 

But it was horrible, strained, gurgling laughter. Whoever was laughing sounded as though they were near to choking. But before Sasha could make her dream self look over she heard the voice speak.

  
  


**Charlotte/Becky**

Charlotte wandered away as she pulled out her phone. Stealing a quick glance back at the sight of her daughter napping with her head in Becky’s lap. Her wife idly stroking her fingers through Siobhan’s hair and looking utterly drained already. 

As hard as they’d taken it she knew Bayley would be feeling infinitely worse right now. Since they had the time because of the layover she’d try calling the reporter. Quickly finding the contact in her recently messages and lifting the phone to her ear as it began to ring.

Bayley’s head jerked up from where it had been lolling on her shoulder. As it did she felt a wave of pain from having fallen asleep in such an unnatural position. It took her a moment to gather her bearings as she blinked at her surroundings. She was in the hospital, then the reason why she was in the hospital came rushing back to her. She felt the tears forming when her phone rang again.

Fumbling in her pocket she accidentally dropped the device on the floor. When she finally had it again she had to wipe her eyes to view the screen. An incoming call from Charlotte Flair. 

Bayley had never stabbed the ‘answer’ button on her screen with more purpose.

“Hello?”

Charlotte hated how much pain was contained in one single word. She felt like a weight was compressing her lungs and making it hard to take in full breaths. “Hey Bay. It’s Charlotte…” She didn’t know what more to say. Anything she thought of felt insignificant. 

Bayley closed her eyes and let a few tears leak past her lids, just taking comfort in the sound of a friendly voice. “Hey Char, I...how are you?”

“... We heard about the accident… Is… Are you alright?” Charlotte asked. She wanted to ask about Sasha but it hurt to even think of the strong woman she knew fighting for her life. 

Bayley gave a slightly hysterical laugh at this. She sounded every bit like a woman who was on the edge of cracking. “No, no I’m not...I…” her voice broke in a choked sob “...I don’t know what to do Charlotte.”

Charlotte didn’t have any great advice. There wasn’t anything she could say to make things better. “We’re going to be there later today, I think around six or so local time. We took the earliest flight out of Dublin we could and now we are just waiting in New York for the next.”

Bayley was stunned for a moment. “You’re...you’re coming here?”

“Of course we are,” Charlotte said without a hint of hesitation. “You know you would too if it was Becky or me in the same scenario.”

Bayley felt the tears coming on again but she batted at them and then tried to keep her voice steady as she answered. She was partially successful. “Char, you didn’t have to…”

“Yes. Yes, we did. There is no way in hell we were going to stay home while you two are going through this.” Charlotte plainly stated with no room for argument. “Besides, you know when Becky sets her mind on something, nothing you or I say will stop her… We **want to be there.** For both of you Bay.”

Bayley felt a surge of relief so powerful that she had to close her eyes. The knowledge that her friends would be there soon was more comforting than she could say. “Thank you, Charlotte,” was all she managed, almost whispering.

Charlotte struggled just hearing Bayley over the phone. “You don’t need to thank us. You and Sasha are family… You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want. Is there any news about our girl?”

Bayley let out a shuddering breath at this question. As much as she wished she’d never had to hear it, she had memorized the litany of injuries that Sasha had sustained. “She has a crushed pelvis, her ribs have been destroyed, two cracked vertebrae, and a shattered ulna. She’s also got a severe concussion and major internal damage.” Bayley recited this horrific damage report in a completely dead, almost mechanical, voice. It was the only way she could get through it without bursting into tears.

The thought of all those things happening to Sasha made Charlotte want to throw up. Having to swallow down the instinct as she fought against the tears that sprang up. They’d known it was bad from the reports but hearing the list was disheartening, to say the least. “Okay Bayley, I’m going to need you to do something for me. Alright?” She asked. She’d heard the tone in the brunette’s voice and knew she was struggling far beyond what she was showing. There wasn’t much she could do over the phone but at least she could try.

Bayley nodded at first, her eyes still squeezed shut. Then she remembered she was on the phone so she spoke in a whispering croak. “OK.”

Maybe if she could give the other woman something easy to do it could help give her a second to focus on something besides the horror of what had happened. “Could you give your parents a call and tell them to meet us at the house? Siobhan’s going to need to sleep before we bring her over, and we could pick up some things for you before me and Becky come over.”

Bayley took a few deep breaths. She knew Charlotte was right, and that her friend was trying to distract her. She appreciated both efforts equally. “OK, I think they may be there already but I’ll tell them. When does your flight get in?”

Charlotte quickly checked her phone to see the ticket before replacing it to her ear. “5:45 local. Give us at least twenty or thirty to make it through and then add in drive time. We should be able to make it there by eight or so… Bayley… She’s gonna be alright. Sasha’s strong… She’s got a lot to live for.”

“Tell me that again as soon as you get here,” Bayley said quietly.

“I will… Becky says she loves you both by the way. Those might not have been her exact words but I don’t want to repeat it in public.” Charlotte offered. “We’ll see you soon.”

  
  


**Bayley/Becky/Charlotte**

(Three days after the accident)

Bayley had become intimately familiar with every single detail of each floor tile outside the door to Sasha’s hospital room. She’d been at the hospital for almost three days straight, with only a very brief pause the previous day to run home for some clothes and to shower. During that time she’d spent hours pacing back and forth over this exact stretch of floor.

Scuff that looked like the Nike symbol, crack that seemed to radiate out from a near-perfect oval, and some kind of blue stain…

Bayley would have preferred to never leave Sasha’s side but she couldn’t. She, however grudgingly, recognized that she would just be in the way while the doctors and nurses were with Sasha. And they had to do this very often. Sometimes it was just routine checks, and Bayley would just stand and trudge slowly out of the room. But other times, it was the gut-wrenching, soul-crushing, terror of an alarm. Bayley would shoot to her feet, pounding on the call button before she was pressed back into the corner of the room. Her vision would blur with tears as she sobbed uncontrollably until a nurse was detailed to walk her out of the room. 

It seemed to Bayley that these last were happening far too often. 

As she paced she caught a brief glimpse of herself in a mirror and for a moment she didn’t recognize the woman staring back. Her hair was hanging loose and she could feel the oily build up in it every time it brushed across her skin. She had dark circles under her eyes the equal of any shiner caused by a fist and her skin looked awful. She was clad haphazardly in a zip-up hoodie and jeans though she was barely aware of it. 

Her appearance didn’t matter. Her comfort didn’t matter. Nothing mattered to her anymore except the woman in the room she couldn’t enter. And as she walked, this thought brought a fresh stream of tears.

Becky was nervously picking at her jeans as they waited for the elevator to stop. A habit she’d mostly gotten away from some time ago, only coming back when she was truly stressed or worried about something. 

She appreciated when Charlotte grabbed hold of her hand and entwined their fingers together. Flashing her a brief, tiny smile that was all she could summon right now. They’d only been in the hospital for a few minutes, they hadn’t even seen Sasha, and Becky already hated being here. She could only imagine what Bayley was feeling and that drove her onward, in addition to the not so subtle way Charlotte guided her through the hallways. 

They turned a corner and caught sight of a pacing Bayley who didn’t look like she’d have noticed them if they had been waving a flag announcing their arrival. 

Becky was impulsive at the best of times and she couldn’t stop herself from nearly sprinting across the ward to wrap her friend up in a hug. Burying her face in Bayley’s shoulder and holding onto the other woman like she’d vanish into thin air if she let go before the brunette even knew she was there. 

Bayley wasn’t aware her friends had arrived until she was trapped in a breath-stealing hug from Becky. Though relief flooded through her in a way she hadn’t felt for days, this made the crying much worse. It was good that Becky was as strong as she was because Bayley’s legs nearly gave out under her as she sagged against the fighter. It was all she could do to just wrap Becky in her arms and hide her face in the Irishwoman’s shoulder to muffle her sobs.

Charlotte walked over, briefly apologizing to the nurses who were giving Becky evil eyes after her sprint. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat at the sight of her friend so devastated but it felt impossible. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Part of her still didn’t want to believe that this was happening. She didn’t want to break up the two’s hug, it looked like they both really needed it, instead she placed a hand on Bayley’s shoulder and squeezed gently. 

She was surprised her voice came out relatively steady. “Any more news?” It felt odd to start their conversation here but Charlotte figured neither one of them wanted to exchange pleasant greetings or small talk right now. 

Bayley didn’t answer right away, instead, she just reached over and pulled Charlotte into their hug. She was still sobbing quietly but each inhale brought the scent of both Becky and Charlotte and this was so comfortably familiar that she found it calming. She was quiet for a long time, just clinging to the other two women before she found her voice.

“No news...thank you so much for coming, I’m sorry about your vacation.”

“Fuck the vacation!” Becky said a little louder than she meant to. Gathering a few more disappointed looks from the nurses. “That shit doesn’t matter right now. Have you been takin’ care of yerself? I swear I’ll drag you down to the cafeteria by your ponytail myself if you haven’t ate in the last six hours.”

Bayley managed a choked sort of laugh at this, though it was more than a little manic.”I haven’t left the room since I got back here yesterday. I have to be here when they all come back out. She...she…” Bayley could keep going as she dissolved into more heaving sobs, leaning against Charlotte this time as she did.

Charlotte let the other woman slump against her. Running a hopefully soothing hand up and down Bayley’s back, trying to relax the tense muscles to little success. “That’s ok. We know… Would you want one of us to go get anything for you? I’m with Becky on this, you have to eat and take care of yourself… Sasha wouldn’t want you to neglect yourself and she’d probably kill us if we let you.”

“She’d try…” Becky mumbled into Bayley’s shoulder. Feeling almost guilty at the tears that she wiped on the brunette’s shirt. She should be offering comfort, not taking it. 

Bayley let Charlotte lower her onto a bench outside Sasha’s room where she dabbed at her eyes. “I can’t believe you guys came all this way...I love you so much,” she said as she took a few deep breaths to try and steady herself. She stared forlornly down at the floor for a while before she added: “I can’t leave yet, what if…”

There was no way she could finish that statement.

“We love you both so much. How about this,” Charlotte started delicately. Taking care to not push Bayley too hard, too fast. “We can order some food and Becky or I can go down and bring it back up when they get here. That way we don’t have to leave. You just have to promise me you’ll actually eat. Alright?” Making sure to show she was serious, staring into Bayley’s eyes till she answered.

Bayley couldn’t do more than nod mutely. She could barely argue with Charlotte under the best of circumstances, she was in no state to try at the moment. But then a question occurred to her. “Were my parents there to let you in at our place?” she asked.

“They were,” Becky chimed in. “We left Siobhan there so she could get some sleep. She was pretty tired after the flight but she still really wanted to be here.”

“We told her one of us would bring her over tomorrow,” Charlotte explained. “Wouldn’t go to sleep till we promised she could come to see her aunts.”

Bayley smiled weakly at this. Weakly, but with genuine feeling. She loved Siobhan as though she were her own child, and she sympathized with the little girl having to deal with so much scary stuff at once. “Poor kid, I’ll have to buy her something special,” she said.

Charlotte tried to keep things light. It wasn’t much but she could only imagine what Bayley was feeling right now. If it was Becky in that hospital room she didn’t know how she’d even be standing. “Her other mom already buys her too many things as is, but I’m sure she’d love anything from her Aunt Bayley. She still goes around with that recorder you bought her last year asking questions to everyone at the gym.”

Bayley managed another smile as the door to Sasha’s room opened and a member of her care team stepped out. “She’s resting again, but we had to give her something that will put her out for hours.”

Bayley was instantly alarmed. “Is...what happened?”

The doctor or nurse, Bayley didn’t recognize him, held up his hands. “It’s alright, she’s still stable. And she’s strong, the fact that she’s still alive proves that. We’ll be monitoring her still but she seems to be improving slightly.”

“Thank you,” Bayley whispered as the man nodded and walked away. Bayley sagged a bit on the bench as the rest of the care team filed out after him. “I’ll be spending the rest of the day here but you guys must be exhausted from your flights. If you need to go back to the house…”

“Bayley… we love you, but you can shut up right now. If you t’ink we’re leavin’ you or Sasha I’m worried you might have gotten a hit on the head too.” 

Charlotte closed her eyes and took a breath. She loved her wife but sometimes she could be a bit much. “I probably wouldn’t have said it that way but she is right. We’re staying right here by your side. Face it Bay, you’re stuck with us for now. Tomorrow we’ll take turns going back to the house but until then we’re not leaving.”

Bayley wasn’t sure what she’d done in her life to deserve friends like Becky and Charlotte. But whatever it had been, she was more than grateful for it. 

**Sasha**

This time when Sasha awoke, she was instantly bowled over by torment. She still hurt everywhere, but this was merely horrible pain and not existence blotting. 

So, progress.

She blinked several times as she looked around, wondering what was wrong with her vision. Then, memories from years as a fighter kicked in, her left eye was swollen shut. Still, her right gave her enough information to realize she was in a hospital room and to guess that it was around noon, based on the sun coming through the windows. 

“Well now, there’s the dope I know and hate,” came a familiar voice from beside Sasha. Frowning, Sasha turned to look and found herself staring at the familiar features of Becky Lynch. “How ya doing luv?” Becky asked.

“Becky?” Sasha managed to ask. Her voice came out as a raspy croak, which was enough to bring home to her that her mouth and throat felt like a desert. Becky seemed to sense her need because she got up and went to a nearby sink where she filled a glass and brought it to Sasha. 

“Don’t you think of moving, you look worse than after we train,” Becky said with a smile as she helped Sasha to drink. Sasha accepted the liquid gratefully but overdid it and ended up coughing, which hurt like all hell. “Easy there…” Becky said as she wiped Sasha’s face.

“Bayley?” was all Sasha asked.

“She’s downstairs with Charlie, getting some coffee I ‘tink. Poor lass has been ‘ere for three days. Took me an’ Charlie a good damn while to make her even leave the room. She’ll be right furious that she wasn’t ‘ere when ya woke up.”

As if summoned by these very words, the door opened and Bayley appeared followed by Charlotte Flair. Bayley saw what was going on and promptly dropped her coffee as she sprinted toward the bed. Becky just got out of the way before Bayley wrapped Sasha in a hug that was more painful than any shots or holds the Irish fighter had ever inflicted on Sasha.

“Oh thank god...I was so scared,” Bayley whispered to Sasha. Despite the pain that the contact caused to Sasha’s devastated body, she found herself crying in happiness. If one thing had been constant since the accident for her, one thing that she’d managed to hold onto despite her pain, it had been her love for this woman.

“It’s OK trouble, I’m here,” she whispered back. Trouble was Sasha’s favorite nickname for her wife. 

“Don’t EVER scare me like that again...or I’ll mess you up worse than that SUV did,” Bayley whispered, not releasing Sasha. 

“I promise,” Sasha murmured. She let Bayley hold her for as long as she could endure the pain, and then a little longer, but eventually she had to pull back.

“I’m sorry, was I hurting you?” Bayley asked, sounding ashen.

“It’s fine, Bay, it’s OK,” Sasha said as she grimaced.

“You look good for someone who just got run over Banks,” came the voice of Charlotte Flair from behind Bayley and Becky. Both women moved aside to reveal the tall blonde. Sasha tried to smile as her friend put a hand on her arm.

“When did you two get here?” she asked.

“This morning,” Charlotte said, trying to smile through Sasha sensed she was as worried as Bayley in her own way.

“What about Siobhan?” Sasha asked, naming her godchild, Becky and Charlotte’s daughter. 

“She’s sleeping back at the house with my mom,” Bayley said. Sasha nodded, glad to hear the girl was OK but now something else was on her mind. The question that she’d been screaming in her head for what felt like an eternity. She was terrified of the answer but knew she had to ask.

“Meng?” the single word dropped heavily amongst them like a lead weight. No one spoke as Sasha’s eyes went first to Bayley, then Becky, and finally Charlotte. She was desperately hoping one of them would contradict the growing hunch in her gut that was rapidly hardening to a certainty.

“Please...tell me…” Sasha whispered as tears began forming in her eyes. When all the other three women did was exchange a glance they began to fall in earnest.

“I’m...I’m so sorry Sasha…” Bayley said.

\-----------  
  


Bayley was, once again, pacing back and forth in the hallway of the hospital. 

She understood the importance of the call, but she disliked it mightily. Actually, that was underplaying her current mood. She was furious. Not only was every second she was forced to be away from Sasha bitterly resented, but now this!

Bayley had gotten in touch with her boss, AJ Styles, to inform him that she would be out indefinitely until she had a better sense of what condition Sasha would be in. Styles had been his usual understanding self and hadn’t pushed her at all on this point, as some other bosses might have. But he HAD reminded her of the due diligence she needed to put in for the show. Part of her had been annoyed at this, but more of her had been grateful for AJ’s calm presence in the moment.

So Bayley had then called her executive producer, Chad Gable, and dictated a short statement about Sasha’s situation. It wasn’t something she wanted to be doing but she knew better than most how important it was to not let a narrative spiral on you. Like it or not, both she and Sasha were public figures. Especially in Sasha’s case. The statement hadn’t really contained any information beyond the fact that Sasha was stable and that Bayley was grateful for everyone’s thoughts and prayers.

That SHOULD have been enough. In a perfect world, people would have left it at that. But this world was FAR from perfect. And so here Bayley was on the phone with AJ once again, being forced to be away from her wife. Even if Bayley wasn’t doing much more than worrying beside Sasha’s bed, she still hated being out of the room.

“Are people SERIOUSLY listening to this?” she demanded.

“ _Not many, but the noise is loud and you know that can snowball too fast,”_ AJ Styles responded.

The ‘noise’ he referred to was a report that had been ‘leaked’ on ‘The Rose Garden’. Bayley had thought (or maybe just hoped) that Mandy Rose would be out of her life forever when she’d received the audio and video recordings from Alexa Bliss that had featured Mandy disparaging the entire MMA audience. She’d hoped in vain. Apparently, if you were blonde and had big boobs people were willing to tolerate any kind of abuse you threw at them. Rose had issued a tearful ‘apology’ on Twitter after she’d been let go from ESPN and through some bizarre process had retained a large audience.

After a brief time out of the limelight, Rose had resurfaced hosting a web-based podcast and stream called ‘The Rose Garden’. The tragic lack of originality in its title was mirrored in its content, the show was trying so hard to be a clone of Joe Rogan’s that it almost hurt. Of course, Rose still had the nerve to bill herself as an MMA ‘expert’ so that was the main focus of her work and that meant she spent a great deal of time commenting on (read: critiquing) everything Bayley did.

Bayley could handle that, she’d won two Emmys since taking over Rose’s old show (Rose had never won any) but today was different. Bayley usually simply laughed off Rose and her sniping but today, had the blonde been in front of her, Bayley would have punched her fucking weave off. 

Rose had gone on her show and, citing unnamed sources ‘close’ to the situation, had suggested that Sasha’s accident had been the result of impaired driving. The sheer poisonous affrontery of it was enough to make Bayley want to scream. Sasha hadn’t come close to a failed drug test in years, moreover, the hospital had checked and there was no sign of any kind of intoxicant in Sasha’s system.

But if Rose had already crossed a line, she blew through a thousand more with what she’d said next. Bayley had memorized the quote, that was how much she hated the other woman for saying it. 

“... _If this report is true, it is a tragedy that a bad decision cost the MMA world the life of a legend in Meng Fifita.”_

The thinly veiled suggestion that Sasha had caused the death of her trainer was so wrong that Bayley felt it bordered on evil. In the years that they’d worked together Meng and Sasha’s relationship had blossomed to something so much more than a fighter and trainer. Meng had been a mentor and, Bayley had privately suspected, a kind of father figure to Sasha. Of course, this had never made it into how they spoke to each other, but the love was obvious for all to see.

As much as she was scared of the physical challenges ahead scared her, she knew that what would be most daunting would be how Sasha dealt with the death of Meng. Bayley knew her wife, and she knew Sasha was already blaming herself. Bayley also knew that Sasha was dead wrong about this, the police and everyone else said so. 

But in her weakened state if she heard what Rose had said…

“I’ll see if I can get the police to release the toxicology report, but for now I’ll give Renee and Chad another statement. Maybe I can spin this back on Rose and make people ask why she’s slinging mud at us,” Bayley finally answered AJ’s question.

“ _I like the first and second parts, but we don’t want the third. Do you really want to try and engage in a pissing contest with Mandy Rose?”_ Styles said. For the barest moment, Bayley’s temper flared. Whose side was the man on? But this passed quickly, swept away by the omnipresent exhaustion that dogged her these days. 

“You’re right...you’re right I just...I HATE her!” Bayley said in impudent frustration.

“ _And she deserves it…”_ Styles conceded “... _But the reason why you’re better than her is that you aren’t the kind of bitch who slings mud. You’re the kind of bitch who wins god damned Emmys.”_

That brought a very brief, very weak, smile to Bayley’s lips. But it counted nonetheless. “Thanks, AJ, I’ll send a statement over to Chad and Renee here as soon as we’re off the phone.”

“ _I’ll try to keep everything I can on their plates and not yours, I know you got bigger things on your mind now. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do, Bayley,”_ Styles said.

“Thanks, AJ,” Bayley answered before hanging up. The sad fact was that there wasn’t much anyone could do at this moment. Sasha was in stable condition, and she had the best doctors available. But it was all a waiting game now. Bayley had no idea how she would have gotten through this if not for the support of her parents and her friends. 

Her _madre_ and _padre_ had dropped everything and come down to LA to be with her and Sasha. They were the ones who were keeping things afloat at Bayley and Sasha’s home, both preferred to have things to do rather than sit and worry. This assistance was invaluable to Bayley but she appreciated it even more when one or the other would spend the night with her at the hospital. 

But every bit as heroic and appreciated were the efforts of Becky and Charlotte. It had made Bayley cry like a baby when she’d realized that the two women had cut their vacation to Ireland short to fly all the way back to LA. Bayley couldn’t begin to describe how grateful she was to them for that huge gesture. It was sometimes surreal to reflect how much Sasha had become as much a part of their lives as Bayley had especially given how they’d all met. But Bayley couldn’t imagine life without them.

A strange source of comfort had come from little Siobhan, their daughter. Bayley had felt so bad for the little girl, swept up in events that she didn’t fully understand and forced to fly for almost an entire day. But Bayley found the three-year old’s presence oddly calming when Siobhan was around she could focus on something else than her fear and exhaustion.

Feeling slightly calmer at the mere thought of all the amazing people in her life, Bayley sat down on a bench in the hallway and made another call.

“ _Hello?”_ came the familiar voice of Chad Gable.

“It’s me,” was all Bayley said. She’d known Chad for a few years now, he was a hard worker and a great producer. Scratch that, he was the perfect producer. Almost an extension of Bayley’s own brain, he kept the show running so smoothly that Bayley just needed to make decisions for them to be carried out promptly.

“ _Hey Boss, how’s your wife, not worse right?”_ Chad asked. One gift he didn’t have was social graces, he was kind of a nerd. But so was Bayley so they usually got along perfectly. And today, Bayley was too tired to care if he might have broached this subject more delicately. 

“She’s...OK, Chad, thanks for asking. Is Renee in yet?” Bayley asked.

“ _Yeah, she just got here.”_

“Can you add her to the call? I need to give you a statement to what that twit, Mandy Rose, put out,” Bayley asked tiredly. 

“ _One sec…”_ Bayley waited a moment later another familiar voice came on the line. 

“ _Bay? How are you Hunny? How is Sasha?”_ Renee Young, a sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune, asked. 

Bayley and Renee had first met years ago when they’d both been panelists on Montell Porter’s show. That had been in the run-up to Sasha and Becky’s second fight and they had exchanged a few verbal passes at the time. Bayley hadn’t thought much of it then, but she’d been surprised to be contacted by Young out of the blue a few weeks later as a source for a column.

From there a friendship had developed. They shared the common bond of being women in a male-dominated field, but their relationship was much more than that. Bayley and Renee were both reporters who did things ‘the right way’. They didn’t embrace the pervasive ethos of their profession that speed was the most important thing in the world. They held true to the old school journalistic standards and ethics. And that was even rarer than being women in MMA media.

They’d gotten so close in fact that Bayley often asked Renee to fill in for her on the MMAyley report when she was on vacation. So when the worst had happened, Bayley had known right away who to ask Chad to call.

“She’s as good as we can hope for, Renee, thanks for asking,” Bayley said, feeling tears forming in her eyes as she thought about just sad of a statement this was given how damaged Sasha was at the moment. 

“ _Dean and I are praying for her every day,”_ Renee assured Bayley.

“Thanks, we need it,” Bayley said, meaning it too. She then proceeded to explain once again what had happened (though both Renee and Chad knew already) and then gave them another statement.

“ _I can’t believe Rose is even still around, but I swear if I ever see her I’m going to slap that bitch!”_ Renee said when Bayley had finished.

“Get in line,” Bayley sighed as she rubbed her eyes. “Chad? Is there anything else?” she asked bleakly.

“ _Nope, we’ve got it, boss.”_

“Good, thank you, thank you both so much. I know this is a lot of work.”

“ _Shut up, Bayley. You don’t even think about that right now. You just focus on Sasha and yourself, and that last bit is important too. Don’t run yourself ragged or you won’t be much use to anyone.”_ Renee said sternly.

Bayley wanted to smile at this, she tried, she failed.

“Thanks, Renee, I’ll talk to you both soon,” she said as she hung up. As she did she let her head sag back against the wall behind her. If only she could address all her problems so easily.

\----------

Bayley’s head was spinning.

She’d just received a briefing from one of Sasha’s doctors that sounded more like an encyclopedia of injuries than anything one lone person could endure. The fact that the person the list applied to was her wife simply added an ice-cold gut-wrenching terror to her feelings. 

“Your wife is stable, Ms. Martinez, and we’re doing everything we can but as of now, I can’t make any kind of long term predictions,” had been the ominous final words of the doctor before he walked away. He’d left an absolutely shell-shocked Bayley behind him. ‘No long term predictions’...did that mean that Sasha might die? 

The mere thought of this was enough to bring a flood of tears to her eyes as she sat beside the bed, holding Sasha’s hand. It wasn’t fair, it couldn’t happen. She and Sasha had so much they still needed to experience together. How could she be taken now? What would Bayley do if that happened?

Bayley sniffed loudly as she forced herself to look up through her tears at Sasha’s face. The face she’d fallen in love with, the one seared into her heart and soul. Having to see it like it was now, broken and battered, brought a fresh wave of tears to Bayley’s eyes. 

“Sash?” she whispered as she clung to Sasha’s one good hand. Of course, Sasha didn’t move, she had only regained consciousness a few times and never for more than a few minutes. Even when she did, it wasn’t any kind of blessing, she was in so much pain on those occasions that Bayley was forced into the horrible position of wishing Sasha would fall back into unconsciousness. 

But Bayley was honest enough, even in her despair, to admit that she was talking much more for herself than for Sasha’s benefit.

“Sasha... _mi amor..._ please...stay with me. I don’t care what else happens, please just stay with me, Sasha. I need you more than anything. You’re so strong, Sasha, and I need you to be strong now.”

As Bayley plead with her unconscious wife, she knew she probably sounded and looked a little ridiculous. But she was well past caring about such things anymore. She was prepared to endure far more than simple embarrassment if it could do even an ounce of good for Sasha. Bayley squeezed Sasha’s hand once more before she continued.

“I...I don’t think I’d be able to keep going if it wasn’t for Becks and Char. They came all the way from Ireland when they heard what happened. They brought Siobhan too, she hasn’t been by yet but I promise we’ll bring her as soon as we can. She’s….she’s good, you know she’s a little hell-raiser. She’s worried about her aunt Sasha though…”

Bayley paused her to sniff again. She was being hit with a wave of happier memories, of the times she’d watched Sasha with little Siobhan. The girl absolutely idolized her aunt Sasha and what was more, she seemed to bring out a side of Sasha the world rarely saw. Bayley’s wife was so good with the little girl that it had always encouraged Bayley to wonder what if…

But it seemed she might never get to follow through on those plans now.

But she shook her head violently as this thought occurred to her. No, she would absolutely not let herself think that way. More than that, she would not let it happen, she wasn’t sure how, but even if through nothing but sheer force of will she would pull Sasha through this. 

She had to.

  
  
  
  


**Bayley/Becky/Charlotte/Sasha**

“They...the doctors asked me not to tell you, not yet. They thought it might hurt your recovery. But...I thought you deserved to know,” Bayley said quietly as she rested her hand atop Sasha’s. 

Bayley’s heart was shattering as she watched her wife in her hospital bed. It was brittle already due to the whole situation but now, seeing someone as proud and strong as Sasha weeping like this…

It was almost too much. But she couldn’t let it be. She had to be strong now.

Sasha Banks hated crying. She hadn’t been raised in an environment where it was encouraged, and MMA was hardly the most touchy-feely place either. Worse than crying for her was crying in front of others. In the past, she’d gone to tremendous lengths to cover her sadness and suppress her tears with anger.

She could barely bring herself to sniffle in front of Bayley on most days. And so it was a real testament to just how much her relationship with Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch had evolved that she had allowed them to see her like this. Or maybe it was entirely out of her hands. She doubted she could have held in these tears if she’d been at her physical best.

“No...I...I had to know…” Sasha whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks. She couldn’t say more, and it wasn’t just that talking (like everything else) hurt. It was because she had no idea what to say, or even what to think.

Meng was dead.

She’d always known that her trainer and mentor was old. Hell, he’d reminded her of it several times a day. But somehow she’d never imagined he could actually die, that he could be gone. She guessed she’d just assumed he would endure forever on sheer cussed stubbornness. He was a constant for her, an acerbic and gruff one to be sure, but always there for her to steer by.

In the years since they’d first met, Meng had guided Sasha through the biggest fights of her career. Many fighters might have experienced a hangover after losing their Bantamweight title, but Meng hadn’t let Sasha be one of them. He’d seen her through her transition to the Featherweight division, and then all the way to the Featherweight Championship. She’d now been champion for almost two years having defended her title four times. 

Along the way, the cranky old man had somehow transcended his professional relationship with Sasha. Meng had been an invaluable source of candor in her life. Her previous spiral before her second fight with Lynch and shown her the danger of having too many yes-men in her life. But she was always at risk of a backslide so long as she was as successful as she had been. Meng had made sure she never did.

Sasha had been in truly volcanic arguments with her trainer over the years over a variety of subjects. But almost invariably, after she’d calmed down, she’d realized Meng was just looking out for her. And even more than on the big stuff, Meng’s refusal to observe even surface pleasantries with her had helped keep her grounded. Anyone who didn’t know them would assume they were arch enemies on hearing them speak to each other. But that was just a facade, a convenient fiction that had been silently agreed upon by two people who hated discussing their emotions.

Now he was gone.

It just...couldn’t be.

Bayley wanted to hug Sasha so much that it hurt, but she didn’t. She knew how much pain the gesture would cause her wife so she settled for stroking the back of Sasha’s hand with her fingers. 

Bayley almost said ‘I’m so sorry’ but she held it in. Sasha would hear those words more than enough times in the future, and Bayley knew how trite they sounded. So she tried a different tactic. “I’m going to miss that old bastard so much.”

Bayley obviously hadn’t been as close to Meng as Sasha had, but their lives had become inextricably linked through their common association with Sasha. Bayley had loved the old man, reveling in the fact that she was almost the only person he was always polite to. Now though, she was wishing she’d told him this when she’d had the chance.

But she couldn’t let herself dwell on her regrets at the moment. Desperately seeking any sort of distraction for Sasha, Bayley turned to Becky. The Irishwoman was standing awkwardly at the foot of Sasha’s bed. “Becky, remember the first time you guys ran a joint camp? When you accidentally backed into him and he lost his cigar?”

Becky was caught off guard by Bayley addressing her. She’d been doing her best to allow the other woman the same decency Sasha would show her if the roles were reversed, acting as best she could like nothing was wrong. Distractedly running one of her fingernails along a small raised segment of plastic on the edge of the bed, shifting her weight back and forth. She quickly put on a smile that couldn’t help but taste bittersweet. “You’d have thought I killed his kid or somethin’. Told the ol’ bastard he should be on his horse when I’m teachin’. Get a bit animated durin’ I said to him. Not my fault he didn’t get out my way.”

Bayley shot a glance at Sasha when Becky finished speaking but her wife still hadn’t looked up from her tears. So Bayley tried again, looking over at Charlotte who was sitting by the windows. “Remember the first time he met Siobhan?”

For the last few minutes, Charlotte had been sitting, intently watching the interactions. Hoping for any sign that Sasha was going to get through this. If not just for herself, then for Bayley. This was going to be incredibly difficult for both of them and they needed each other. “You mean when he called my daughter a fat little baby nugget? Hard to forget.”

Bayley smiled, recalling the exact incident. Meng had been bent over little Siobhan as Sasha held the swaddled baby. He’d had a distinctly unimpressed look on his face as he’d done so. And after delivering the line Charlotte had mentioned, had asked a question.

“Do you remember what he asked next? Does it do anything?” Bayley asked, her own eyes getting a little wet at the memory.

Charlotte smiled and tried to laugh, but it came out more like a hoarse cough. She looked over towards Sasha. “Speaking of, Becky’s going to get Siobhan in a bit. She really wants to see her Aunt.”

Bayley’s face fell as she shot a nervous glance over at Sasha. Was she ready for that? Brushing Sasha’s hand again she cleared her throat. “Sash? You want to see Little Boss today?” Sasha sniffed loudly, obviously still weeping, but managed a tight nod. Bayley squeezed her hand before looking at Charlotte and jerking her head over toward the door of the room. 

“Do you think Siobhan will be able to handle this? She won’t be scared?” she asked when Charlotte joined her.

Charlotte was about to answer when Becky spoke up from her place at the foot of the bed where her feet felt anchored. “Lil’ Boss will just be happy to see you…” It was a rare occurrence when the Irish woman actually used the nickname for her daughter but she wanted Sasha to know she meant every word. Giving the other fighter a decent imitation of her normal grin. “Sometimes I t’ink she actually likes you more than me.”

If Becky had thought this would help, and there was no reason she shouldn’t have, she was very wrong. Sasha’s crying increased as her shoulders began to shake, and it was clear that each such shudder sent a wave of pain through her body. Bayley left Charlotte’s side and hurried over to the bed leaning into her wife and carding her hair.

“If you want to bring her by in a bit, we’ll be happy to see her,” Bayley said as she gave Charlotte a quick nod before turning her full attention to Sasha.

Charlotte nodded back before turning and walking over to her wife. “We’ll give you a heads up.” Gently grabbing onto the crook of Becky’s elbow and fruitlessly tugging her towards the door. The redhead’s feet frozen in place with a confused look on her face. 

“I-I didn’t…” She whispered so softly Charlotte could barely hear. 

“Let’s give them a minute… Come on Becks.” Gently ushering the other woman’s suddenly thawed feet away from the bed. “We’ll be just outside.” Charlotte softly informed the other two. Moving towards the door even as Becky kept looking over at the striking image of Sasha crying only worsened. 

“‘M sorry.” She quietly muttered just before the door closed and Charlotte’s strong arms wrapped around her. Letting herself be surrounded by the blonde’s warmth and steal some of it for herself. Burying her head into her wife’s shoulder so she could hide from the world for just a bit. The two simply standing there in the hospital hallway as the world around them continued to quake. 

Or maybe it was just them. 

  
  


**Sasha**

“Good morning, Ms. Banks, how are you feeling?” Dr. Michaels said as he entered Sasha’s room.

“Like I got hit by an SUV,” Sasha grunted, with absolute truthfulness. Sasha was honest enough to admit that she wasn’t the most patient person in the best of circumstances. Given her current set, she might fairly claim to be devoid of patience.

“Well, you would know,” Dr. Michaels said with an amused sigh. The man had a seemingly endless tolerance for Sasha’s bad mood. Sasha found this both endearing and irritating by turns, but she had to admit she was lucky to have him. 

Sasha sighed, though even this hurt. Everything hurt, everything she did caused pain. “I apologize, doctor.”

“No need, I think we’d all be a bit irritable if your position,” Michaels said as he moved to the end of Sasha’s bed. “I’m going to do a few quick tests, OK?”

  
Sasha nodded and then did her best to watch (she was unable to move her head) as he lifted the sheets from her legs. A moment later she felt something sliding slowly along the arch of her foot.

“Can you feel this?” Michaels asked.

“Yes.”

Sasha got the impression Michaels nodded though she couldn’t see it. He then did several more tests on her feet and lower legs before he emerged from under the sheets. He had an expression of relief on this face which, for some reason, didn’t make Sasha feel better. “Well, I have some good news for you, first,” he said with a small but genuine smile.

“What is it?”

“We were worried for a while that the damage to your spine might affect your lower body. When you were brought in we thought you might be paralyzed from the waist down. But you aren’t showing any signs of that now.”

Sasha knew that this was beyond simply ‘good’ news. It was fantastic. But for some reason, she couldn’t access a proper sense of gratitude. Dr. Michaels had said ‘first’ when he’d said he had good news. “But I’m guessing you have bad news for me now?” she asked, quietly.

Michaels hesitated, but he seemed to give a small nod. Sasha interpreted the gesture as meaning he understood that his attempt to start with good news wouldn’t help Sasha feel all better. “I do, but I can wait for your wife to return if you prefer. It’s something you should both here if she’s going to help in your care, going forward.”

Sasha frowned, or she wanted to. Her face hadn’t healed enough to allow her that much expression. If she had the power for one wish, she would have used it not on herself but to spare Bayley having to live this nightmare with her. But she knew that her wife would punch her if she ever told her that. 

“I think she’ll be back in an hour or so, you can tell me then,” Sasha said quietly. This was the first time since she’d arrived that Bayley, Charlotte, Becky, or some combination thereof hadn’t been in her room with her. Sasha had finally prevailed on the other women to go take care of themselves though in Bayley’s case she’d vowed to come back within two hours. Nothing Sasha could have said would dissuade her.

Michaels nodded and exited the room, leaving Sasha alone. She wasn’t sure she actually wanted to be alone, but she knew wasn’t sure she didn’t either. This ambiguity cleared up after only a few minutes. Sasha didn’t want to be alone, she couldn’t be. When she didn’t have some kind of distraction she had nothing to do but feel her pain and think. And it was that second thing that was the worse of the two.

Sasha hadn’t wanted to hear Michaels’ news simply because she didn’t think she could handle it, not on her own. She would need Bayley’s strength when it came time for that. She was aware that this need was at odds with her wish to spare Bayley more pain, and this dissonance didn’t help her mood in the slightest. 

She had a horror that she would be told something that would ruin her life when she got the final damage. Sasha Banks was not a woman overly prone to fear, she couldn’t be given her job. But she had a terrible suspicion that she was going to be told she could never compete again. She knew how petty it sounded to be concerned about that at a time like this. But So much of who she was as a person was tied up in being a fighter. She had no idea what she would do without it.

This caused a fresh surge of guilt within her, one that threatened to start her weeping uncontrollably again. She was guilty because she was worried about her future career when...when he was dead. 

It still wasn’t real for Sasha, it couldn’t be. Every time it came up she had to fight down the desire to shout at the person who was speaking. She wanted to call them a liar, to tell them never to say it again. But she wasn’t delusional, she knew she couldn’t change the world just because she said so. 

Sasha couldn’t help it, the tears began to flow again. That was how Teddy found her. Sasha’s manager hadn’t been able to visit her yet, he’d been out of the country. So when Sasha heard the door, she had assumed it was Bayley returning. But she saw it was Teddy, her tears began to flow faster, seeing Teddy reminded her too much of Meng.

“Sasha, I’m so sorry,” Teddy said as he approached her bedside and put a hand on her arm. One part of her was at least grateful that he hadn’t hugged her, which hurt a great deal. All Sasha could do in response to his words was nod, but she sensed he understood. It was more than enough.

“Can we...can we just not do that right now…” Sasha said quickly before she could begin crying again. She’d been doing far too much of that lately. 

Teddy seemed to understand what Sasha was thinking so he didn’t press the issue. Instead, he reached into a bag he was holding and produced a small stuffed animal. At first, Sasha thought it might just be one of those available for sale in the hospital gift shop. But then she saw that the Teddy Bear was wearing miniature versions of her Sasha's boss glasses, rings, and jacket. She continued to stare dumbly at it as Teddy set it beside her.

“Thought it might cheer you up,” her manager said with his usual brilliant smile. Teddy Long had to be one of the most charming people walking the face of the Earth. Sasha was not immune to this either, at least not normally. The gesture was kind and sweet, and so characteristic of Teddy Long. Yet, today, Sasha found she was completely unmoved.

She picked up the bear and toyed with it listlessly but didn’t otherwise respond. She couldn’t, she found that if she wasn’t feeling depressed about Meng...she didn’t feel much at all.

Teddy waited for her to speak but she didn’t, he pressed smoothly onward. “I’m not here to talk about business, Sasha, but I want you to know something. The team will stand behind you no matter what happens. I’ve already made some calls to try and get some specialists in here to check you out.”

“Uh-huh,” 

“I’m also going to take care of the bills. You just focus on healing up.”

“Thanks,” Sasha muttered.

“You need anything? Anything I can do for you?” Teddy asked, some of the very real earnestness he was feeling sneaking through into his voice. 

Sasha nodded but didn’t answer. What could anyone do for her now? What she wanted was impossible. She recognized what Teddy was doing, most of her appreciated it but a smaller part wanted to tell him to leave. But she wasn’t so far gone that she wasn’t aware of the problems that would cause.

“No...just...

  
  


**Becky/Sasha**

She’d been in the hospital plenty of times over the years and had spent far longer inside them than she’d like. Becky was never bothered by it until she wasn’t the one in the bed. And even then, she never really cared till it was Charlotte when she was giving birth to their wonderful daughter. 

The clinical appearance everywhere her eyes looked, the oddly sanitary, chemical smell, even the air conditioning, none of it used to make her skin crawl. But she couldn’t help it now as she walked through the halls with Siobhan’s little hand clasped tightly in her own. The path from the lobby to Sasha’s room ingrained to the point where years from now Becky would still be able to know exactly where to go. 

When they finally reached their destination Becky stopped and kneeled down to look her daughter in the eyes. Giving the obviously worried young girl as warm a smile as she could and brushing a few strands of blond out of moss-colored eyes. “Alright honey, yer goin’ to have to do as I say otherwise the nurses won’t let you stay. Okay?”

“Yes, mama,” Siobhan said exasperatedly. She just wanted to see her aunt Sasha. She’d even made sure to dress up in the nice skirt her parents bought for special occasions and a ‘Boss Time’ shirt that Sasha had given her last Christmas. 

“No jumpin’ on yer aunt or anythin’ like that. Be gentle with her and listen to what I say. If I tell you to move or give aunt Sasha some room, you do it right away without any questions.”

  
“Yes, mama.” She repeated. Eager to see her aunt but also slightly on edge because of how everyone had been acting. Both of her mom’s seemed so sad even though they tried to hide it. 

Becky sighed and pulled her daughter into a hug. She didn’t want to admit it but the hug was more for her than to help Siobhan, who actually seemed to be dealing quite well so far. “I love you, baby. So much. Always remember that.” Taking a few more seconds to just indulge in holding her daughter close, before reluctantly standing and knocking on the door. Even though Sasha knew they were coming, she didn’t want to come in unannounced. “Time to see yer aunt. Come on Shivy.”

She grabbed her daughter’s hand and led her inside the room. Giving the bed’s occupant a grin that she forced to look somewhat natural. Sasha was alone for the moment, which meant Charlotte must have dragged Bayley to the little deli across the street. 

“‘Ey there Sash, look who’s ‘ere ta see ya.” Putting the best effort she could into sounding enthusiastic and upbeat. Slowly letting go of Siobhan’s hand as she gravitated towards her Aunt. 

Sasha had been lost in a grim reverie, which was more or less constant for her these days when she heard the door open. She assumed it was some combination of Bayley, Becky, and Charlotte returning so she didn’t look up. Even when she heard Becky’s too cheery greeting, she didn’t move her gaze as it bored a hole through her bed. 

“Hello,” was all she said.

Becky had expected the tepid response and was more worried about how her daughter would handle it. The small girl slowly walking closer till she reached out and her hands curled around one of the bed rails. Pulling herself up onto her tiptoes so she could see a little better. “Aunt Sasha...” Was all she said. Even at her age, she could tell Sasha was acting abnormal, even if she couldn’t really understand why. 

Sasha squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She’d been hoping to see her goddaughter just a few minutes ago, but now she wondered if it was really a good idea. Still, the girl was here now and Sasha loved her as much as she had anything in her life. So she forced a smile onto her face and did her best to turn her head to look at Siobhan. A trick feat when your neck was largely immobilized.

“Hey there trouble maker…” she said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. Once again though, this was tough given her injuries.

It was obvious that the young girl was having trouble thinking of what to say. Everything that Becky had told her couldn’t really prepare Siobhan for reality. Even so, she pushed a toothy smile onto her face. Determined to make her Aunt feel better. “Hey, Sasha!” Grabbing onto the two fingers that weren’t in a splint and squeezing gently. “Did mom tell you that I got to jump off a super tall cliff?”

“It wasn’t that tall…” Becky mumbled quietly in defense of herself. 

Sasha tried to force a more genuine smile onto her face, she managed an approximation but it hurt her terribly to do so. “That’s awesome kiddo! Did your mom jump with you?”

“She wouldn’t let me go by myself. But I totally would have.” Siobhan wanted to be brave like her Aunt always was. Putting on a strong front even if in reality she’d been grateful that Becky had been right there with her. 

Sasha’s eyes were beginning to water with the effort of keeping her smile on her face. Knowing she would scare her goddaughter if she wasn’t careful, Sasha cast her eyes around and let them fall on the teddy bear that Teddy had brought her. Picking it up with her good hand she held it up as high as she could.

“Hey, look what your aunt got you, trouble? It’s ‘Boss Bear’,” she said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

Siobhan’s eyes lit up. For a moment it was easy to just think of it as her normal Aunt Sasha. Since she could remember she’d always loved imitating one of the women she thought of as a hero. Sasha’s strength was a constant and it was difficult to imagine her being in the state she was in. “It’s so cool!” Reaching up for the bear-like it was a precious treasure. 

Becky was watching the two closely. She’d caught the look in Sasha’s eyes, it was one she remembered well. “What do you say Shiv?”

“Thank you, Aunt Sasha.” The excited girl quickly and genuinely responded.

“Tell me all about Ireland,” Sasha asked the girl as she grimaced and raised her hand to touch her cheek. She was mostly asking to distract Siobhan but even in her ruined state, Sasha always loved spending time with her goddaughter.

“The plane ride was so long, but we got some food and I got to have an ice cream cone. Ireland was honestly kinda boring though.” Siobhan bluntly stated her opinion and just shrugged.

Becky raised an eyebrow and gave her daughter a sideways glare. Glad to hear her homeland bemoaned by her child if it kept Sasha from retreating back into herself for a little longer. She knew how easy it was to keep moving back from the world. 

Sasha listened throughout the girl's account. She tried her best to retain everything but even as she smiled (or grimaced) she felt the sadness building within her again. She shoved it back down with all her might. She wouldn’t fall apart in front of Siobhan, no matter what. When the girl paused for a breath, Sasha jumped in.

“Did you get to go swimming yet at the house?”

“Just once. I’m goin’ to go again later today.” 

Becky jumped in before her daughter could continue. She usually didn’t mind it but Siobhan could talk forever if you let her. “Speakin’ of, we should probably get going soon. I’m sure Sasha needs her rest. Wouldn’t want her missin’ her beauty sleep.” She lightly teased while walking up to the bed and giving the other fighter a brief understanding nod. Becky understood exactly how difficult it was to pretend everything was fine when nothing was close to fine.

At that exact moment, the door to the room opened. In walked Bayley and Charlotte, each carrying a box of food. Bayley’s eyes scanned the scene and assured that Sasha was as good as she could be, she set her food down and scooped Siobhan up into her arms and hugged the little girl.

“ _¡Hola, mi amor, te he extrañado, adorable princesita!”_ she said happily. As a general rule, Bayley tried to address Siobhan in Spanish as much as possible to make some of her language stick in the girl’s mind.

Becky kept the smile on her face as she watched the exchange but her eyes kept drifting over to Sasha of their own accord. 

Charlotte was just happy that she’d gotten Bayley to leave again. Every single time they tried it was a brand new fight. “We come bearing gifts!” Trying to hold on to the positive energy Siobhan had brought even though she could still feel the creeping down her neck that had been a constant since the accident. Leaning over to press a kiss onto the crown of Siobhan’s head. “I hope you’ve been a good girl for your mom.”

  
“Of course I was.” The tiny ball of confidence said. 

“We really should get movin’. I was just about to show Siobhan around the youth center.” Becky interjected softly. Hoping to pull any attention away from Sasha and give the woman some space. The last thing she ever wanted to do when she felt horrible was to try and act normal. She knew the other woman felt the same without having to ask. 

Bayley knelt beside her goddaughter and put her hands on the girl’s little shoulders. “You go on with your mom. Then maybe you can make sure our pool is still working, will you do that for me?”

“ _Claro que si.”_ Siobhan quickly responded, making sure to get in another hug before leaving. A habit that was impossible for her not to pick up. “When can I come again?”

Neither Charlotte or Becky knew how to answer that right away and Sasha wasn’t immediately forthcoming either. 

“Why don’t we get goin’ and yer mum and Bayley can figure that out later.” Becky offered. Trying to draw the spotlight away from making Sasha decide right then and there. 

Sasha forced another painful smile to her face. “Soon, OK trouble? Go have some fun at home OK?”

“I can do that!” The tiny child said happily. Tugging on Bayley’s pants to get the brunette’s attention. “Can you give auntie Sasha a hug for me? I don’t want to hurt her on accident.”

Bayley very nearly broke right there, it took all she had to hold in a choked sob but she managed to nod. “ _por supuesto mi amor,”_ was all she managed.

Charlotte had a hard time holding in her tears at the scene but forced a tiny, sad smile onto her face and kneeled down to scoop Siobhan up into her arms. “Okay, lil Boss. It’s time to go. Say bye.”

“ _Slán agat._ ” Siobhan waved as Charlotte carried her to the door. 

Becky smiled a little proudly at the Irish coming from her daughter. A little something of her. “That’s goodbye if you didn’t know. Yer not the only one who can teach her another language.” Trying to smirk normally at Bayley in a teasing way. 

Bayley tried to do her part to keep up the limp banter. “ _¿Pero cuál será más útil?_ ” she asked before stepped forward and hugged Becky tightly. “Thank you,” was all she whispered as she held her friend.

The redhead returned the hug with an extra squeeze she knew Bayley probably needed right now. Whispering back, “You don’t have to thank me. Take care of her. She’s tired.” Silently hoping the reporter read between the lines in her words. 

When Becky left, Bayley turned to her wife with the best smile she could muster. She was about to speak but Sasha beat her to it.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Bayley asked, startled. But Sasha didn’t answer right away, she just closed her eyes and let tears leak out past the lids.

“Don’t smile like that, I don’t want you to pretend. We promised we’d never pretend…”

Bayley’s heart broke more than a little as she made her way over to the bed. She knew she shouldn’t hug Sasha, it would hurt her, so she pressed her lips to Sasha’s cheek and then kept them close as she whispered to her wife.

“I’m here, _mi amor,_ I’ll always be here…”

Sasha nodded slowly and made an obvious effort to bring herself under control. When she could speak she turned to her wife and asked, in a voice more plaintive than Bayley had ever heard from her. “Tell me what happened...all of it.

“Sasha I-”

“Please…” Sasha spoke in barely a whisper but it still made Bayley’s soul ache for all the pain she heard there. “No one has been straight with me and...I have to know.”

Bayley hesitated. Sasha did deserve to know but Bayley still hesitated, she hesitated out of love. The woman before her, the woman who was her soulmate, was as broken physically as someone could well be. Bayley wished she could shield Sasha from all that might hurt her in the world, and if she could have done that by taking that pain into herself instead...she would have. 

But she couldn’t, and she also had the horrible certainty that the information Sasha wanted would break her once more. Not physically, but spiritually. Bayley thought her wife was the strongest person she’d ever met...but could she handle this news on top of everything else. Once again, Bayley felt the urge to protect Sasha.

But she didn’t.

Sasha was right, they’d promised to never lie to each other, to never pretend. Not after how their relationship had ended. And it wasn’t for Bayley to decide what Sasha got to know or didn’t. So, though it would break her heart all over again, she would do what Sasha asked.

So she did.


	2. A Funeral

**Bayley/Charlotte/Becky/Sasha**

Bayley looked into the mirror and sighed. She tried to smile, she gave it her all. But it wouldn’t come, not today.

“I shouldn’t be here…” she said as she turned from side to side, checking her black dress in the mirror.

“I know...” Charlotte said from her place behind Bayley. A foreboding sadness falling over both of them like a suffocating blanket. “We’ll get through it though. Together.” Despite not knowing Meng as well as her friend, this was the first funeral she’d be going to since her own father's passing and that fact was buzzing in the back of her mind. But Charlotte wasn’t— couldn’t make this about her. “We can drive straight back to the hospital when it’s over.”

Bayley shook her head sadly. “I wish, but I’m here as Sasha’s surrogate and if I take off right away people will start talking. So it’s smile, nod, and shake hands at least for a while.” She sighed and looked at her friend in the mirror. “You can go though.”

“Why say that when you know I won’t. I’m staying as long as you Bay.” Charlotte answered unwaveringly. Today she had to be there for Bayley since Sasha couldn’t. It was the least she could do after everything the reporter had done for her and especially Becky. 

Bayley turned around and hugged Charlotte for the seventh or eighth time that day. If she were a betting woman she would have laid good odds on breaking twenty before midnight. She squeezed her friend tight, hiding her face in Charlotte’s shoulders.

“I wish I could just be with her...and I already miss that crusty old bastard,” she murmured.

Charlotte did what she could and squeezed back as tight as she could without actually hurting the smaller woman. “If you want I can give you the ol’ line about how it will all get better over time. It will… But that doesn’t mean it won’t suck. She’ll come back to herself. She will.” Charlotte repeated. Hoping that for Bayley’s sake it would be sooner than later. 

Bayley gave a wet kind of half choke half-laugh. “Jesus...I never told you that did I?”

“You didn’t have to.” Charlotte tried to smile but it never really reached her eyes. “Becky was on bed rest for a week once with a bad ankle sprain and she was almost a different person.” The unspoken fact that Sasha’s injuries were much worse making her lighthearted remark feel almost ominous in hindsight. 

“Well, at least there won’t be a Carmella incident at this one…” Bayley tried to joke “...The exact words in Meng’s will about media were ‘they can fuck off and die’.”

“Can’t blame him too much when someone like Mandy still has a career after everything.” 

“I mean...to be fair, I seem to remember he told you to do that exact thing a few times,” Bayley laughed as she dabbed at her eyes.

“And I would always say thanks. I think that irritated him more than getting angry would have.” Charlotte reminisced pensively. A ghost of a smile on her face that just wouldn’t come. 

“Oh, it did,” Bayley laughed as she turned back to the mirror. “So...how do I look?”

“I wish neither of us had to be wearing black.” Charlotte answered honestly, “But you look…” What was the right answer? How was someone supposed to look during a funeral? “Meng would probably say you tried too hard.”

“We had to ignore part of his will...he wanted to be ‘kicked into a hole and left there’....” Bayley said with another smile that turned sad quickly “...Did you know that Sasha was the executor of his will? He...wasn’t in touch with family.”

“I didn’t.” Charlotte simply stated. “I’m pretty sure he saw you two as family though… For what it means.”

Bayley nodded and after one last hug, made her way to the door. They were in one of the private rooms at the funeral home and the moment she opened the door she knew she had to put her public mask on. So she waited for Charlotte to join her, plastered her smile on her face, and it was showtime.

\----------

The plastic chairs inside a patient’s room were already an uncomfortable, awkward fit for Becky. Add in the chair with how lost she felt when around Sasha and Becky was a ball of nervous energy with a sore lower back to boot. 

When she’d heard that Sasha wasn’t going to be able to attend the funeral Becky hadn’t even hesitated when someone needed to stay behind and keep her company.  
  


Sasha had become a good friend after they both got over themselves and allowed it to happen. So even though she had no idea what to say or do, Becky knew that being here was the right decision. Sasha would hate herself if neither her or Bayley could be there in person for the funeral and as proud as the other fighter was she wouldn’t ask for anyone to stay behind with her. 

The Irish woman was sure Sasha saw through her excuse about being closer should Siobhan give Bayley’s parents a hard time while watching the little one, but hadn’t called her out on it. 

“You want anything ‘fore it starts?” Becky asked tentatively.

Sasha didn’t answer at first and not for almost a minute after. “Nothing anyone can give me…” was all she managed.

Becky had given up on getting a response so she was a little startled when the other woman spoke up. “Right…” Chewing on her lower lip as her mind kept going over and over what more to say. Everything she thought of felt like it would be the wrong thing to say. 

Sasha knew that she wasn’t making this experience any easier on her friend, and she hated herself for that. But this was just one among the many reasons why she hated herself right now. She couldn’t even make it to Meng’s funeral, which shouldn’t be happening at all.

Wouldn’t be...if not for her.

As she felt the tears threatening Sasha cleared her throat, she didn’t want to let Becky know what she was feeling. Her friend would just try to reassure her. And Sasha didn’t want to be reassured, she knew she was right.

“Do you...do you need any help there?” she finally asked as she nodded as much as she could toward the laptop set up on the table in front of her. She would be able to see a stream of the funeral there.

“Nah. Should be all set up and ready to go.” Becky answered, automatically falling back into her old rhythm with Sasha. “Besides, you couldn’t help wit’ this technology when ya weren’t all banged up.” 

Sasha almost smiled, almost. “Bitch...you were using a two-way pager until a few years ago,” she answered. Not because she felt like bantering, but because it was what Lynch was expecting. And contrary to popular wisdom, Sasha had no desire to have company in her misery.

For a second Becky almost forgot the circumstances they were in but reality was hard to escape when surrounded by the sterile smell of the hospital and beeping of machines. “It got the job done.” Steadying herself for a moment and taking a deep breath before adding. “So… Now that Bayley isn’t here. On a scale 1-10, how bad are you actually feeling right now? AND before you answer. Jus’ know that I’m fine bein’ the bad cop here.”

Sasha thought about lying, but she found she didn’t have the energy. And it actually sounded nice to not have to put on a front. “I feel exactly like someone as fucked up as I am would.”

“Aye. So worse than shit left outside in the rain.” Becky surmised. “That fuckin’ sucks. If this were eight year ago I’d probably be pinchin’ some of those drugs they’re givin’ ya. They make it easy fer you… Just press a little button.” 

“Thanks for your technical expertise,” Sasha muttered. She had been briefed about her pain meds but she had deliberately not been using them. She deserved the pain. “Didn’t Charlotte want you at the funeral?” she asked in an effort to change the subject.

Becky had chosen her words with purpose, fishing for information. As a former drug addict slash alcoholic and someone who helped out down at the community center in Boston she’d gotten pretty good at reading between the lines. Her own injury had helped lead her to abusing pain meds but her gut was telling her that wasn’t the case here. No, something else was going on with Sasha. 

  
For now she’d drop it, but her concern didn’t diminish. “I’m sure she does.”

Sasha recognized a conversational dead end when she came to one. So she changed tacks hoping to keep Becky from asking the questions that she didn’t want to answer. “How is the big man taking it?” she asked, this question having the merit of also being something Sasha was legitimately worried about.

“Best you could expect. Mentioned he was goin’ to stop by and see you before he flies back.” Becky said. 

“I never realized how close they were until this last year or so,” Sasha said quietly. She was going to say more but she winced horribly as a riptide of pain tore through her. 

Becky jumped out of her chair at the sudden jolt from Sasha. Try as the other woman might to not show her pain, it was easily visible. “You need a nurse?”

Sasha squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. She used some of the pain mitigation techniques she had been studying for the last few years. Focusing on her pain and allowing it to flood her whole being, wrapping her core in it until her whole world was agony. She then exhaled and began to picture that pain slowly contracting, shrinking into a tiny ball at the center of her body. She ran through this process several times before she opened her eyes again. They were blurry, but she no longer felt like screaming.

“We aren’t expecting any other visitors are we?” she asked.

“Nothin’ till whenever Bayley and Charlotte get back.” Becky answered. Not missing how Sasha had reacted and the lack of pain medicine. 

Sasha was about to answer when music began to play from the laptop. Her eyes found the screen, fixating on what was happening.

It was time.

\----------

Bayley regretted that she didn’t speak Tongan, but she was mostly able to follow the service. 

She was sitting right up front in the church, exactly where Sasha would have been. She’d been spared much in the way of social duties before the funeral itself, just ducking directly into the nave where an usher had taken her forward to her seat along with Charlotte. Looking around it, struck Bayley just how many people were here today.

For someone who had loudly, and openly, professed to hate his fellow human beings, Meng had certainly touched a lot of lives. A veritable who’s who of MMA luminaries filled the church. Bayley saw most of the current class of BFA champions present along with representatives from almost every team. A small part of her reflected that, had she been here in a professional capacity, she couldn’t have ever expected to have this kind of access to such a wide variety of people in her field.

But this part of her was buried beneath miles of shattering grief.

“How many from your camp are here?” Bayley asked Charlotte quietly as she watched Bray Wyatt find his seat.

“Almost everyone. They got in yesterday. Staying at some hotel.” Charlotte answered offhandedly. She’d normally be aware of every minute detail but it was taking all her effort just to keep up with the business. 

Bayley kept studying the crowd. She exchanged a nod and sad smile with Alexa Bliss who was sitting a few pews back from Bayley and Charlotte. She also saw that both Finn Balor and his father had made the trip all the way from Ireland. She would have to make a point to seek them out and thank them personally for coming. The more Bayley looked around the more touched she felt, and the more the tears threatened.

She didn’t have long to dwell though because it wasn’t much longer before the service itself began. Bayley was ignorant of Polynesian funeral customs but she did her best to follow along. It had been in Meng’s will that the service not be a long one so things did move quickly. Too quickly for Bayley’s taste because it wasn’t long before it was her time to stand.

She let Charlotte give her one last supportive squeeze before she stood. She was pleased by how steady she was as she walked toward the front of the church. Mounting the pulpit, Bayley looked out at the small crowd and found herself inexplicably tongue tied. She addressed a national TV audience five days a week but this group of less than eighty had her at a loss for words. She’d spent several hours preparing to deliver these short remarks, almost as much as she did preparing for an entire show. But she was frozen.

\---------

Becky didn’t think things could get more awkward but once the funeral actually started Sasha didn’t seem to pay her any attention at all. Part of her was gracious for that. She wasn’t sure what to say anymore to the other fighter and couldn’t stop herself from overthinking simple conversation. A larger part of her knew that she couldn’t let Sasha wallow alone and that had been why she stayed. Not to mention the fact that she assured Bayley multiple times that she could handle it. 

But what do you say to someone who doesn’t want to hear anything you have to say? What could she possibly say that could make things better for Sasha as she watched her mentor and coach’s funeral, unable to even be there in person. 

“Funeral’s suck.” Was what she managed. 

Sasha sniffed as she watched Bayley step into the pulpit. She heard Becky’s words, but dimly, as though from a great distance. She was letting her tears fall freely now, something she would never have done in front of Becky Lynch in a previous life. She couldn’t even really process what she was watching. How could Meng be gone? 

The old bastard had just been too tough, too ornery, too stubborn. Sasha tried to slam a door over the thoughts that came, but she didn’t have the strength. She was bombarded with so many things that she wished she’d told her trainer. Why hadn’t she? Why hadn’t she ever taken a few minutes to cut the juvenile insults and just tell him that she loved him. That he had been like a father to her. Was she just that cold?

Without realizing what she was doing she started to stretch out a hand, though even this motion blasted her with a tsunami of pain. Her hand trembled like that of an elderly woman and the tears pouring down her cheeks were no longer purely of sadness. But she grunted and forced her arm to straighten until her hand was extended toward Becky. She couldn’t do this alone.

Becky couldn’t miss the movement. Sasha wasn’t exactly bouncing around the room so the small move felt massive. Her heart wrenching inside her chest at the strength and grace that used to fill that hand. She’d never wished for another person to punch her, but at that moment she wished Sasha would. Because if she did that would mean this was all some sick dream that none of them could wake up from. 

Silently, and without hesitation Becky reached out to grab a hold of Sasha’s hand. Using the strength in her own to help still the constant shaking from the other woman’s. Squeezing as tightly as she dared and scooting herself closer to the bed, foregoing the distance it seemed like Sasha wanted earlier. 

She didn’t push it by saying anything. It had obviously taken a lot for the other woman to reach out, physically and mentally. Becky wouldn’t risk ruining that by opening her mouth right now. 

Sasha appreciated the pressure on her hand more than she could describe. This despite the pain she was enduring to simply hold her arm out. But she clenched her teeth as tightly as she could and forced herself to look at the screen in front of her. It seemed that Bayley had finally found her voice.

“ _As you all know, Sasha Banks was supposed to speak today, it should be her up here. But she can’t be here, so I’m going to do my best for both of us...and for Meng…”_

Sasha almost choked on a sob as she heard this. Bayley was right, Sasha should be there. The fact that she wasn’t felt like the ultimate betrayal. And this made Sasha want to hide her face in shame.

Becky couldn’t imagine what was going on inside Sasha’s head. It was obviously killing her to not be there, but there was so much extra weight piled on top of that. She was hardly paying attention to Bayley’s speech. Focusing on the pain she saw crossing Sasha’s face that was so deep it seemed never ending. 

She took a look at the door just in case. She’d told the nurses to not come in for anything less than an emergency while the funeral was on but still knew it could happen. 

  
Becky looked back at the bed and judged the amount of room. Sighing deeply before taking a risk and asking, “There enough room up there for one more?” There was obviously enough room that Sasha wouldn’t have to move at all but she didn’t want to encroach without permission right now. She wasn’t Bayley, and wasn’t anywhere close to being good at comforting another person, but she had to try. 

Sasha just nodded slowly as the tears flowed down her face. 

\----------

Charlotte let out a sigh of relief when Bayley finally started speaking. She’d seen the deer in the headlights look for a moment and knew how horrible it must feel for the reporter to be speaking in Sasha’s place. It just didn’t feel right and they both knew it. As close as Bayley was with the man, Sasha had been so much closer. 

It had been hard to speak at her father’s funeral so Charlotte knew at least some of what Bayley was going through. She’d been a bundle of nerves all day, and expected Bayley was much the same even though she had hid it fairly well. 

“...There are so many things I could say about Meng, but we all knew them. That’s why many of you came such a long way to be here. And...I think he’d have hated how many showed up.” Bayley had to stop at this point as she wiped at her eyes. “He’d probably have called you all dumbasses for wasting your time.”

She paused as there was a small laugh from the audience at this eminently true statement. Unfortunately, it also brought more tears to Bayley’s eyes as she imagined the cantankerous old man shouting at the whole crowd. Bayley forced herself to take a few deep breaths before she pressed on. 

“Rather than try to describe why we all loved that old crank...I think it’s best if we just do this the way he would have liked…” Bayley turned to the coffin at this and let her own tears roll down her cheeks “...Rest in peace you old bastard. Don’t piss off God so much that he kicks your grumpy ass out.” With that, Bayley beat her retreat, head down and moving as fast as she could without appearing to hurry.

Charlotte waited till Bayley was close and stood up. Not giving the other woman any warning before wrapping her in a hug that rivaled the best Bayley hugs she’d ever been given. She didn’t need to say anything in that moment. There wasn’t anything she could say to make it any easier. All she could do was be there for her friend. 

Bayley let Charlotte pull her in without resisting. She had tried her best to stay strong throughout the day but now she let herself feel fully, allowed the grief to wash over her. She felt as though the only thing keeping her grounded now were the arms of her other friend, wrapped tightly around her. 

\----------

Becky had been extra careful clambering up onto the bed next to Sasha. Settling her back against the headboard and keeping her grip on the other woman’s hand. Letting her other hand gently rest on the pillow above the injured woman’s head and play with her hair. Just trying to let her know she was here. 

She remembered how easy it was to feel completely cut off from the rest of the world when she’d had her own injury.

  
One of the things that had helped her come out of it was actually Carmella and the physical contact she’d brought with her. Obviously that had been fueled by several more unhealthy habits but the initial contact had helped ground her and let her get out of her own head for a second. Maybe she could offer something similar, without the negatives Mella’s support had brought. 

Sasha’s breaths were coming in a shuddering gasps now. She barely see the screen through her tears but she could hear it just fine. And as Bayley closed her remarks, Sasha couldn’t hold back the tide any longer. She gave a loud sob and began to cry, to really cry. Something she’d done less than five times since she’d been an adult.

Despite the pain that the gesture caused, Sasha leaned against Becky and did her best to hold on. She needed someone nearby at this moment, some form of contact to hold her feet to the ground. Had she been less grief stricken, she might have been surprised at this. She was stubbornly self reliant to a fault. But right now she needed Becky as much as she needed to breathe. 

What made her crying intensify, to the point where it was hurting her immensely, was the thought of Meng. Specifically what he would say if he could see her now. He’d have nothing but contempt for this kind of breakdown. Yet another way she’d let him down.

Becky was a bit shocked initially at how Sasha seemed to be reaching out to her in such a low moment. It meant more than she could ever verbalize but for now she had to focus on the crying fighter next to her. 

  
Moving as close as she dared and trying to lend as much strength as she could. Unwanted tears working to move out of her own eyes at the sight of such a strong woman so broken. 

Whispering soft words of comfort she hardly believed. Feeling helpless to do anything that could adequately make up for the moment. Gently going, “Shh,” as Sasha fell apart until her mind remembered an old song from when she must have been only two. A vague, cloudy memory of a tune that her mother must have sung before she left. 

Becky never considered herself much of a singer but she was willing to swallow her pride if it could help calm down Sasha. Taking great care in holding the other woman and allowing her to let out all that pain. 

“As down the glen one Easter morn

To a city fair rode I

There armed lines of marching men

In squadrons passed me by

No fife did hum, no battle drum

Did sound its dred tattoo

But the Angelus bells o'er the Liffey's swell

Rang out through the foggy dew”

Sasha wasn’t fully aware of what Becky was doing at first. She was so lost in her grief that the singing didn’t register. But then, she caught up with the situation and she just listened. A small part of her felt ridiculous but, strangely, the singing did seem to calm her. Which wasn’t to say it made her feel much better. By the time the Irish woman finished, Sasha wasn’t sobbing any longer. Instead, she felt dead inside.

“It should have been me…” she whispered.

Becky didn’t have anything to say to that. Her only answer being to hug Sasha closer. Nothing she said would make Sasha believe otherwise.

The only person who could change Sasha’s mind was Sasha. 

\---------

In a macabre sort of way, the wake reminded Bayley of her wedding reception. She and Sasha had stood in their receiving line for a long time then, exchanging greetings with each and every one of their guests. Today, as Sasha’s proxy, she was doing the same. And she’d rarely felt less comfortable in a role.

She knew most of the people who she met that day, but she still felt like an imposter in their eyes. By all rights, it should have been a member of Meng’s family doing this. But without any available, it should have been Sasha. What was she doing here? She felt like an intruder. But she did her duty, shaking hands and accepting hugs.

“You did quite well,” Alexa Bliss told Bayley as she stepped forward. Bayley had a moment to be surprised at this, Alexa never initiated physical contact. But she closed her eyes and drew what comfort she could from her friend’s embrace.

“Damn fine speech, I think he would have liked it,” Alexa’s husband, Braun Strowman put in before he bent down to hug Bayley and Alexa. He could easily engulf both of them with plenty of room to spare.

“Thanks you guys…” Bayley whispered.

After Alexa the greetings were mostly less personal, though Bayley did hug Bobby Lashley with real warmth. It moved her greatly to see how desolate the giant trainer was. As time went by, Bayley wished more than anything that she could just go back to Sasha and be held by her. But she couldn’t, she wouldn’t fail Sasha now.

Across the room, Alexa Bliss approached Charlotte Flair where the taller blonde was standing in conversation with Tessa Blanchard. Excusing herself, Alexa looked up at Charlotte and then hugged her. “I’m not good at this, but I hope this helps.” When they seperated Alexa gestured across the room and leaned in to whisper. “Are you free? There is someone I think you should meet.”

Charlotte wished she was seeing Alexa under better circumstances but there wasn’t any changing that. “Of course, give me a second.” The tall blonde looked over at the woman she’d known as long their parents had known each other. “It was nice seeing you again Tessa. Stay in touch.”  
  
Tessa gave a terse smile and chanced a brief look at Alexa. “You too Charlotte. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me soon. Excuse me.” 

  
With that she was gone and Alexa began to steer Charlotte back across the room towards a woman whose height could actually rival the tall blonde’s. She might have tried to stand up a bit taller subconsciously.

Alexa summoned as big of a smile as she could given where they were and spoke up first. “Stephanie I have someone you might be interested in meeting.”

Charlotte’s eyebrows raised when the woman turned around and she put the name Alexa had uttered to the face. Everyone in the MMA world and most of the world in general knew of Stephanie McMahon. She’d actually been a part owner of the BFA with Shane for the first year but had quickly sold her shares, then went off to fund and create a new football league designed to bridge the gap between college and the NFL. To say people had been doubtful of its success would be putting it mildly, but against all odds she’d found success where people didn’t believe any possible. 

Charlotte wasn’t often intimidated but Stephanie was testing that. 

“Charlotte Flair, it’s a pleasure meeting you here. I can’t say the circumstances are optimal and I understand you were fairly close to Mr. Fifita. My sincerest condolences.” Stephanie said with an air of genuine care that actually was shocking given the stories out there about how shrewd a businesswoman she was. 

“Thank you, but as close as I was to him there were others far more so.” Charlotte deflected as she thought about Sasha, Bayley and even Becky who she felt all deserved the condolences more. “He touched a lot of people’s lives.”

Stephanie looked around the crowded room and smiled softly. “I can see that. On a more neutral note, how goes your business? I heard you just opened another gym down in Miami. What is that? The fourth?”

“The sixth actually.” Charlotte answered calmly. “How about you? Congratulations seem to be in order after the Fox deal. Four hundred million dollars a year is a lot of money.”

Stephanie chuckled and nodded. “It is. But it’s actually four hundred and ten million.”

“Really? Impressive. We’re getting close to opening another community center, up in New York.”

  
“That’s great! My league just got involved with the Boys and Girls Club of America last year and we’re hoping to expand the program even more.” 

  
Alexa stood there watching the back and forth till she decided to just break the odd dick measuring contest. “Now that we’ve established you are both great at business can we just talk?”

Whatever tension there was between them quickly shrunk away thanks to Alexa’s bluntness and Charlotte found herself really appreciating the McMahon’s mind and how genuine she seemed. The complete opposite of her brother Shane. 

Still, Charlotte could only indulge in the conversation for so long before she excused herself to go find Bayley amongst the crowd. She felt more than a little responsible to not let the reporter be on her own. If Sasha could have been here there’s no way she’d leave the brunette’s side and since she couldn’t Charlotte had to try. 

Bayley nodded to Charlotte as the blonde rejoined her. She didn’t have time to speak, however, because she’d just been reminded of another duty she had to perform. With a sigh, she moved to stand in front of the crowd of mourners and cleared her throat. 

“Excuse me, everyone…” she said and was pleased by how steady her voice was “...Meng had one special request for his funeral that we’re...we’re about to fulfill.” As she said this she motioned to Bobby Lashley who had been standing at the side of the room. He nodded and left briefly before returning with a wheeled TV cart that would have been familiar to any elementary school student of the late 80’s and early 90’s. 

“He...Meng, wanted someone to play this video for anyone who showed up. I admit I don’t know what’s on it but...I think it’s the least we can do…” Bayley said. She’d chosen to omit the fact that the person who was supposed to be playing the video was Sasha. “Bobby?” she asked as she turned to the trainer.

“Hang on...I…” Lashley said as he fumbled with the cart. He then turned to the crowd and gave an apologetic shrug. “The old bastard has it on a VHS tape and I’m trying to remember how to even do this…” There was some subdued laughter at this but eventually Bobby got the tape to start playing. A moment later Meng’s face appeared on the screen. Seeing his wrinkled countenance again made Bayley’s heart ache.

“ _So...I’m dead. Well I hope it came as a shock to no one. I’ve been living on borrowed time for years anyway…”_ the old trainer said. This drew a more genuine wave of laughter from the crowd. “ _I recorded another one of these for a few people close to me but this is the general one. I’ve got a few things to say and I want you to know that I’ll be a happy dead man knowing I get the last word…”_

“Oh god…” Bayley said quietly as she shot a glance toward Charlotte.

Charlotte just shrugged because what more could she do. She knew Meng’s next words could very well be something he’d have found hilarious. Other than Becky, Meng was the only person she could rely on for responding to intense emotions with something vulgar. 

Bayley couldn’t keep a smile off her face as the video version of Meng actually lifted a sheet of crumpled notebook paper off the desk in front of him. As he did, he put on a pair of cheaters that he’d insisted on using despite them being obviously too small for his face. Seeing that familiar gesture turned the expression bittersweet as Bayley realized she wouldn’t be seeing it again. The Meng on the screen seemed unconcerned as he looked at the camera.

“ _I assume that string bean Goose showed up there?_ ” he asked. Bayley’s eyes automatically flicked to where the BFA interviewer was standing with some other mourners. He was looking sad like everyone else, but also a bit nervous. He didn’t have to think of anything to say because Meng continued right on. “ _If pitchers can’t hit then they aren’t fucking baseball players and shouldn’t be on the team at all, PERIOD. Designated hitters are stupid and shouldn’t be part of the game._ ”

As a fan of the Red Sox and a vaunted, lifelong fan of David Ortiz, Charlotte was upset. In fact, she and Meng had this exact conversation more than once because of Becky’s tendency to steal her Red Sox’s hats and wear them specifically to annoy the Los Angeles Dodgers fan. 

The list of grievances and arguments Meng continued to tie off ranged from minor to the extraordinary petty. Bayley laughed hardest, however, when he got to Mr. Balor. “ _And Balor? Yeah, about that money you claim I owe you? Which I don’t. If those kiss asses at the funeral home actually did right by me you can find it rolled up in my cold dead ass. Come get if you like!”_ Bayley wasn’t sure if she was crying from laughing or laughing because she was crying. All she knew was that she missed the crusty old jackass on the screen and that her heart was breaking because Sasha wasn’t here for this.

Then Meng reached another name on the list. “ _I’m thinking that the blonde boulder probably made it out to California for this one too…”_

Charlotte’s ears perked up a bit at this and she was happy that not everyone knew of Meng’s nickname for her. It at least made it so not everyone’s eyes were on her. She knew there was already a few tears threatening to escape her eyes and wished more than anything that it wasn’t the last time she’d hear that nickname. 

Meng turned to look directly at the camera. “ _Your accent is ridiculous and you’re constantly complaining about your feet hurting but you won’t take off those dumb shoes._ ” He stared into the camera for a few more seconds before he went on. “ _But you’ve impressed the fuck out of me, woman. Keep it up and don’t let that shit for brains, Shane-O-Mac, get in your face.”_

Charlotte smiled and was a little surprised when she heard a rather loud laugh at the last words from none other than Stephanie herself. She was caught between mirth and somberness. Each side fighting to gain the upper hand. The only thing that tipped the scales was the fact she knew Meng would prefer joy to mourning. It wouldn’t change anything but at least for today she’d celebrate his life the best she could. 

“ _Hey, Lynch…”_ Meng said in a more somber tone “... _I still think your hair is stupid but you’re a damn good fighter. The kid tells me you’re one of the best he’s ever seen and coming from that meat head it means something. But more importantly you’re a hell of a mom to that kid of yours. Don’t ever forget the first one don’t mean shit compared to the second…”_

\----------

“ _...So take care of both your girls. And look after that dumbass with the crayola hair as well for me now that I can’t. I’d say I was watching over her but I’ve earned the right to just be dead after putting up with her for so long.”_

As he’d made his way through everyone else in his life Becky knew it would eventually come to her, but knowing it was coming didn’t do anything to prepare her. The words that were so comforting, somehow stung worse than most of the shots she’d taken in her career. Truth be told she’d have gone her entire life never knowing how much he thought of her if it meant he was still alive. 

A small sense of panic started in her body and she couldn’t help glancing towards the door. Glancing at a way to escape. The old her would have taken off in a heartbeat without a second thought but responsibility won out over the panic. It was still there, bubbling beneath and it would never be gone, but Becky had things in her life she cared about. Things worth overcoming that panic for. 

Her face remained remarkably calm and Becky silently promised she’d make sure Meng wasn’t a liar. 

\----------

Bayley continued to struggle against a flood tide of bittersweet emotions as Meng wound down his video. She should have known it would be something like this, equal parts roast and heartfelt sentiment. It was so quintessentially something Meng would do. It reminded her of the time she’d seen him literally drop kick a snotty teenage trainee off of a mat and then that same day had brought her a daisy from his own garden.

When she was able to fully focus on the video again It seemed Meng had only a few names left to address, and that he wouldn’t be doing it here. “ _Kid, Banks, Ms. Martinez, you’ve all got your own messages to watch. I could do them here but I’m tired and hungry. Besides, it’s Paella night down at the Bingo Hall. So for now, all of you enjoy the booze you’re drinking on my damned dime!”_ With that he stood and walked around his desk toward the camera. There came the sounds of fumbling and cursing before the tape ended.

Bayley made a sound that was half choked sob and half bark of laughter. She had the tapes that Meng had mentioned at her home, she would get Lashley his before he left town. As for her own...she’d watch it when she felt strong enough to. But there was still Sasha’s to worry about. It wasn’t her right to withhold it, but was her wife in any position to face it now?

“Can I show her the tape he made for her now?” Bayley asked without any kind of preamble. She was addressing Charlotte, but also Alexa who had come to stand beside them.

Charlotte gave Alexa a brief glance at the abrupt, to the point question. “She’d hate you if you didn’t let her see it.” A to the point answer. “I’m not saying she’s ready for it, but no one ever really is.”

Alexa cleared her throat and took a few moments to collect her thoughts. “Psychological stress can affect physical health. But I do not believe this is a choice you can make for her. I believe you must, at least, make it available.”

Bayley nodded. This was more or less what she had already known, but it helped to hear it from two of the smartest people she knew. Blinking back a few more tears Bayley forced a smile onto her face. Not because she felt it but because she believed that if you smiled long enough you could make it through most things. 

“Alexa?”

“Yes?”

“You’re the expert on optics, how much longer until I’ve reached the minimum amount of time I can spend here before leaving guilt free?”

Alexa considered this question seriously, as she did all questions. “I would say at least until others begin to leave of their own volition.”

“I was afraid of that,” Bayley sighed. 

“If you would prefer, I can attempt to direct things.”

Bayley smiled and shook her head. “You know, it wasn’t so long ago that you would never had made that offer, Babs.” She put an arm around Alexa and pulled her into a tight hug. Alexa scrunched her face up in disapproval at this rumping of her outfit but she submitted to it. Bayley seized on this tiny moment of levity like a shipwreck survivor to flotsam. Turning to Charlotte she gave a sad smile. “Our little robot is growing up.”

Charlotte grinned at the tiny sense of normality amidst everything going upside down. “Well you did train her. It’d be more shocking if she somehow didn’t.”

Bayley smiled in response but the expression dropped off her face with meteoric swiftness as she looked over Charlotte’s shoulder. Blinking several times she confirmed what her eyes were telling her. Standing in the middle of a small group of hangers on was Shane McMahon. He hadn’t been there for the service so he’d obviously just shown up. 

Bayley’s jaw tightened as she watched the man and his perfect mask of bereavement. She was more aware than most about the developing tension between Shane and both Becky and Sasha. In fact ‘tension’ was probably underselling the situation. It wasn’t as though Bayley could bar him from the funeral but if she could she would have. Meng had always hated him and Bayley knew with a journalists’ certainty that he’d also intimidated Shane. Something that the BFA owner had always done his best to hide.

What she wouldn’t have given to have the old bastard around now to growl at Mcmahon.

Turning to Alexa and Charlotte she schooled her face into a more normal look. She didn’t want anyone to see how McMahon’s arrival had hit her. “I know this is a huge cop out, and I will owe you forever for it. But will one of you please deal with our new guest...I just can’t today.”

Alexa turned to follow Bayley’s gaze and then nodded slowly. “Ah. I see.”

Charlotte knew who it was the second her eyes moved over Shane. He was never fun to deal with on the best of days but she wasn’t going to let it fall back to Bayley. “I knew I smelled something. I’ll deal with him. Being passive aggressive might make me feel better.”

Bayley nodded and put a hand on Charlotte’s arm. “Thanks, Char, I really appreciate it.”

“If ever there was a day you shouldn’t have to deal with that jackass it would be today.” Charlotte said. “Don’t even think about trying to pay me back for this. You’ve already done enough letting us stay at your place.”

Bayley nodded and made her way through the crowd to find Bobby Lashley. She wanted to make arrangements for him to get his tape from Meng. And it would have been disingenuous of her to pretend like she wasn’t fleeing as well. 

Charlotte wasn’t much looking forward to this, but she still walked up to Shane with a smile forced onto her face. “Hello Shane. We didn’t think you’d be coming.”

“I wouldn’t miss the chance to say goodbye to someone as influential as him.” The McMahon was his perfect public relations self. Always knowing the perfect way to act.

“I’m sure. I didn’t know you and Meng were close. If I remember correctly, I think he sort of hated you.”

“Death is the time to let grudges go.” Shane said in a somber tone.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes but kept her tone cordial. “I suppose it is. Well I’m sure you’re a busy man. You must be leaving soon.”

“This visit isn’t entirely personal. I’m actually quite glad to find you so quickly. I’ve had someone come to me with an idea for a fight and I must say that it intrigues me.”

Charlotte blinked and frowned deeply. “You came here… And thought I’d want to discuss business?”

“It’s something that I think will be very interesting to you in particular.”

“And I’m sure it will be just as interesting when I’m working… Next week when I get back home. Till then I’m sure you can call my office, and someone will take a message.”

Shane smirked and was just about to continue when he was distracted by someone walking up behind Charlotte. “Well hello sister. Fancy meeting you here.”

“It’s been a while Shane.”

“It has.”

The two siblings seemed locked into their own staring contest and Charlotte felt strangely out of place.

“Have you met Charlotte Flair?” Shane innocently asked and Charlotte hated being dragged into this odd sibling dynamic.

“I have actually. I’m surprised that she hasn’t ripped out your tongue yet. It’s pretty impressive how you manage to make a wake all about yourself.” Stephanie said without the smile ever leaving her lips.

“Still as bitter as ever I see.” Shane countered.

“Never been bitter. Just amazed you haven’t managed to be such an ass that no one wants to work with you yet. Must just take time for them to get fed up with your selfish shit.”

Shane’s smile was looking noticeably more forced and he turned towards Charlotte while ignoring his sister. “We’ll talk when you’re in a better mood. I’m giving you one more shot to hear me out though.”

“And I’ll turn that down one more time.” Charlotte answered immediately.

Shane sighed and clapped his hands together. “Oh well. It was worth a shot.” He winked at Charlotte and waved a quick goodbye. “We’ve got a back up plan anyways.”

As he walked away to mingle with the other party guests Charlotte was just about to speak up when Stephanie stole the words right from her mouth. “What a pretentious ass.”

Across the room Bayley was smiling and nodding in acknowledgement to the greetings she received as she headed toward a familiar face. When she finally came to a stop behind Bobby Lashley she waited for a few moments as the trainer was looking at his phone. After a short time she cleared her throat. “Hey, Bobby, how are you holding up?”

Bobby turned around and gave Bayley a weak smile. “As well as you expect in this situation. But you knew that.”

Bayley nodded, she did. She was probably feeling something similar. “Listen, I know you’ve been busy and I don’t want you to feel any pressure but if you wanted to come by and see Sasha…”

Bobby nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to. She good to get visits?”

Bayley bit her lip as she thought. Sasha wasn’t really in the shape to do much of anything. But she also knew her wife. If the people she loved didn’t come by, no matter what Sasha said, she would sink deeper and deeper into brooding. And Bayley was concerned that if she let that happen, Sasha might not ever resurface.

“We’d love to see you there. I’m sorry I didn’t think to bring the tape Meng made for you with me today, but if you like I can give it to you when you come see her?” 

Bobby nodded. “Sounds good,” he said before he placed a huge hand on Bayley’s shoulder. “How are YOU doing?”

Bayley knew that Bobby wouldn’t accept a brush off like ‘I’m OK’. On the other hand, Bayley didn’t really feel like getting into how she was feeling, really feeling, right now. “I’ll tell you all about it at the hospital,” was what she settled on.

“Yeah, sure, sounds good,” Lashley said as he gave Bayley’s shoulder a squeeze. He then stepped forward and gave Bayley a hug that almost completely hid her from view. Bayley was happy that it did, it let her just feel for a few moments. A few tears leaked out as she reflected that hugging Meng had been like this too.

“OK, big guy, text me and we’ll see you soon,” Bayley said as she stepped back. When she’d walked away she saw Charlotte with her head down talking to a dark haired woman that was vaguely familiar to Bayley though she couldn’t place her at the moment. 

“Charlotte,” Bayley said cautiously as she approached.

Charlotte’s head shot up at the sound of Bayley’s voice and she managed a tiny smile. “Hey Bayley.” She paused for a second and figured she should introduce the two. “This is Stephanie McMahon. She was just getting ready to leave actually.”

Stephanie stood tall and held out her hand for the reporter to take. “Bayley Martinez, it’s a pleasure meeting you. A friend of mine introduced me to your old blog and I’m so glad ESPN saw your potential. The MMA world really needs more strong female voices that actually know what they’re talking about.”

That was it, Stephanie McMahon, the younger of the McMahon children. As a sports fan Bayley knew who she was as one of the founders of the American Football Federation. She’d known about her familial connection but somehow she hadn’t ever really considered Stephanie and Shane in the same light. 

“Ms. McMahon, it’s a pleasure and thank you. I believe you know my boss AJ Styles from when he was covering the AFF. He speaks highly of you,” Bayley answered, perfectly matching McMahon’s tone.

“At least I know AJ learned something from watching me.” Stephanie smiled and her tone became a lot more personable and less business. “He hires people he knows are trustworthy. I’m sure there’s nothing I could say to make it better but I hope for the best with your wife. If there’s anything I could help with Charlotte has my number.”

“No I don-” Charlotte started before Stephanie was holding out a card. “Apparently I do have Stephanie’s number.”

It hadn’t gone unnoticed by Bayley that McMahon had offered her number to Charlotte and not Bayley herself. She wondered on the possible implications of this but knew now wasn’t the time to worry about it. “Thank you, Ms. McMahon, Sasha and I both appreciate it,” she said with a gracious nod.

“Well I must be going. It’s been nice meeting you two, but I’d love to see you during happier times. Once again, my sincerest condolences.”

The other McMahon sibling left the two friends alone and Charlotte was the first to speak up. “She’s a bit odd, but she does seem to hate Shane… That’s points in my book.”

Bayley nodded. “I probably shouldn’t be saying this as a media member but I feel like getting close to her could bite you in the ass with BFA.”

Charlotte had to agree with the analysis but part of her didn’t want to listen. “Shane’s already a big enough ass I suppose… She was also a little hard to get a bead on. Can’t tell when she’s being genuine.”

Bayley managed a smile at this as she rested her head on Charlotte’s shoulder. “Reminds me of this chick I met in Boston once. REALLY hard to read and always stressed.”

“Damn. Sounds like she really needs someone more level headed to help her out.” Charlotte felt genuine happiness for a few seconds. She was just a woman thinking back on fond memories with her best friend. That only lasted so long before reality came back. “At least people are starting to leave. Give it a bit more and we can leave. In the meantime, I think I saw some balls of what looked like cheese and meat over there. That seems like something we should investigate.”

Bayley managed to hold her smile for a bit longer. “Don’t drink the punch, I’m not supposed to tell anyone because they’re handing out cards as people leave. But one of Meng’s last directives was that we secretly spike it.”

Charlotte grinned just a bit. “Good to know.” Her thoughts shifted back to the hospital and she was reminded of why there only two of them were here. “How do you think Sasha’s doing?”

Bayley didn’t answer.

\----------

Once Meng’s video had finished playing the hospital room had been silent. Becky wished she could somehow fix everything with a simple snap of her fingers but it felt like there wasn’t anything she could do. Sasha was so quiet, if she wasn’t lying next to her Becky might have assumed she was asleep. 

Becky dealt with the silence as long as she could, but the tiny intermittent beeps of the machines in the room was making her go crazy. Remembering the feeling of being confined to a bed with nothing but your thoughts and the noise the world around you created. 

She looked over at her phone and read through her notifications. “Charlotte says they’ll be leaving soon. She’s just going to take Bayley back home first so she can change before they come.”

Sasha heard the words but it was like Becky was shouting them at her from the far end of a tunnel. She was still in far more pain than she was letting on, but she kept it at bay because she didn’t want anyone turning up her meds. She deserved this pain. Because as she’d watched the ceremony and the signs of how many people would miss Meng, one inescapable conclusion kept forcing itself up on her.

This was all her fault. And no one would be able to convince her otherwise. But as much pain as she was in both physically and psychically she knew better than to let this on. So she let herself sag back against her pillow. She wasn’t crying any longer, oddly she felt too numb to do so. She just kept holding Becky’s hand as she stared blankly at the wall.

“It’s...is it done?” Sasha asked. In her right mind she would have found this to be a stupid question but for some reason today she found her mind wasn’t quite working like it should. She was having a hard time processing everything that she’d seen on the screen.

Becky wasn’t sure exactly what Sasha meant by that and she didn’t think the other fighter did either. “Yeah… It is.” She knew now wasn’t the time to prod. It was too fresh. “Do you want… Can I-” Every word felt wrong till she settled on, “I’m here…”

Sasha could feel tears coming again, though she wanted desperately to not shed them. Not now and not ever, she didn’t feel like she was entitled to them. She cast around desperately for anything to distract her but she was trapped in a self perpetuating cycle of pain, grief, and desperation. 

“Is...is…” she tried to say.

“Breathe Sash.” Becky said when she noticed the edges of panic shining out from the other woman’s eyes. She didn’t think it would hurt so much just seeing someone else go through this, but this wasn’t just someone else. It was Sasha. “You can tell me anythin’ ya know. Can’t scare me away.” There was a darkness in Sasha that Becky hadn’t mentioned to Bayley or Charlotte. She didn’t want to bring that on them but it wouldn’t do any good to ignore it. It had to be her. 

Sasha was trying to regain her calm but she felt it slipping from her grasp. She needed to leave, she needed to go...anywhere. This was easier said than done when your body was 90% encased in cast but she tried. Though even the smallest movements felt like being stabbed with hot knives, Sasha started twisting from side to side. She didn’t even have a clear goal she just had to not feel.

“I need...where is Bayley?” she moaned.

“She’s on her way.” Becky tried to remain calm herself but there was something about seeing Sasha so out of control and vulnerable that felt wrong. It almost physically hurt to see the other woman like this. She tried to ignore the small stirrings of rejection. Even though they were friends that didn’t mean that’s what she needed right now. “I can get her on the phone if you want.” Can I please just do something help she said internally.

“I-” Sasha started to say before she suddenly gasped in agony. She couldn’t look down but she knew that she was bleeding from her left side. A moment later her EKG began beeping urgently as her gasps turned to strangely muffled grunts of agony. Tears began to stream, not of grief this time but of pain. Suddenly the door opened and a groups nurses rushed into the room.

Becky was being pushed out of the way before she even knew what was happening. One of the nurses giving her a nanosecond long dirty look as she shuffled off the bed so they could get to work. 

She was trying her best to not freak out. The small spot of red she’d seen blossoming through Sasha’s bandages would haunt her forever. There was no way she would sleep for the next week without that image overtaking her dreams. 

The noise of the machines was suddenly muffled and dim which shocked Becky into realizing she’d been pushed out of the room. 

She was frozen in the hallway while her friend was in there fighting for her life and she felt hopeless. She just wanted to hit something and had to squeeze her fists tight to not do just that. 

Bayley. It hit her like a bolt of lighting after she’d been doing nothing but standing for a minute. Bayley needed to know. Becky hated that she hadn’t thought of the other woman right away. She didn’t deserve to be as affected by this as the other woman. Guilt at her own selfish tendencies running through her veins as a suitable distraction from her panic while the phone rang. Fuck, she really didn’t want to be the one to tell her, but there was no one else. 

Back in the room, Sasha was surrounded by grasping hands and raised voices. She couldn’t make sense of it, nor did she try. She thought someone might have been asking her questions but she didn’t care. She just stared up at the ceiling, feeling helpless. All the time she kept repeating the same phrase over and over.

“I killed him...it was my fault."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, there goes the immediate worst of the angst. Doesn't mean there won't be more coming, but if you could make it through this, you should be good going ahead... For the most part. 
> 
> Thanks to all our readers new and old! We're glad people are enjoying this and can't wait for you all to see what we have planned. As the part of our duo responsible for Becky and Charlotte we're going to have a lot of fun delving into their journey. Hint: There's a Storm coming ; )


	3. The World Keeps Spinning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while hasn't it?

**Becky**

Becky hadn’t been here in a while and she was still getting used to being here without Sasha. The gym felt like it was too big for the inhabitants. Like something integral was missing. 

It had been months since the accident and while their family had gone back to Boston, Becky still came back on occasion to hang around Sasha’s gym. The other fighter was tentatively scheduled to return home soon but she had responsibilities back in Boston. Not to mention that she and Charlotte still had yet to decide where Siobhan would be going to school. 

She sighed deeply and finally stopped throwing punches. Letting go of the resistance cables that hung from the ceiling and getting off the punching bag that was specifically designed to practice striking your opponent while you are both on the ground. 

As she walked towards an incline treadmill Becky’s eyes automatically checked in on Siobhan. The small girl still patiently sitting against the wall thoroughly occupied by the iPad in her hands and all the educational games Charlotte had loaded onto it. 

Charlotte had taken it upon herself to support Bayley as much as she could even before they returned to Boston. Even Becky herself had been a little surprised by her rational argument against taking too much on. It wasn’t like their own business was just going to stop because of Sasha’s injury. The world kept moving as much as they might wish it didn’t. This gym alone was proof of that. 

Sasha was undoubtedly the heart of Thuggin’ and Buggin’ but the gym was still open today. Rationally there was no reason it shouldn’t be. The days after the devasting news the gym was closed to anyone, but the world kept spinning and it eventually opened again. 

Becky had taken to spending whatever free time she had at the gym while they’d been in California. The rest of her time filled with trying to act normal around her family in such an abnormal scenario and trying to keep Sasha company when Bayley couldn’t. 

Maybe she was selfish on some level but spending her time at the gym made her feel better. Made her feel useful. Nothing she or anyone else did seemed to make a real impact on Sasha, and Becky couldn’t really blame her. The outlook was grim to say the least and a lot of times it barely seemed like the same Sasha she knew- and though Becky was loathe to admit it, respected. Being at the gym felt like the only thing she could do that Bayley or Charlotte couldn’t. 

She’d been there to step in when Kairi needed a sparring partner. Neither making comment on who her normal sparring partner was. 

She’d been there just to bring Siobhan along and get her out. The young girl easily raising the spirits of the T & B crew with her youthful innocence and boundless optimistic charisma. Even Teddy had come from his offices to say hi. 

She’d been there and out of a need to feel useful provided an impromptu seminar on leg locks and how to counter it when your opponent committed. 

Everything felt a little better during those times. Becky felt like she had a point for being there. Besides those moments, the only time like she’d ever felt useful since arriving in California had been during the funeral. The small optimism she had after that had been quickly swept away when Sasha went right back to her closed off self and refused to ever mention the moment again. 

Becky was hurting, but it wasn’t for herself. She tried to put herself in Bayley’s shoes for a moment and had to stop. Just imagining something happening to Charlotte or Siobhan was too much. 

Her friend’s were hurting and there didn’t seem to be anything she could do to make it better. 

  
Part of the reason why Becky liked fighting so much was because it gave her a goal. A mountain to climb. This mountain was too high. Hell, it felt like there wasn’t even a mountain to climb. This wasn’t a video game where you could go on a quest and everything was all wrapped up at the end. 

Becky felt like she was useless. 

“Mommy! Can you help?” 

Becky blinked out of her fog. She’d already been sprinting on the highest incline the treadmill provided for about ten minutes but barely even felt it. “One second.” She walked over to kneel next to her child and at least for these moments the redhead could relax, smiling softly down at Siobhan. “What do ya need?” 

“I can’t get past this level. Can you show me how?” The little girl said with barely concealed frustration. Siobhan had a habit that Becky hated to say she’d probably picked up from her. She’d reach a point when learning where a brick wall would appear but instead of asking for help right away, her daughter would bash her head into that wall right up until the point where her levels of frustration reached the maximum. 

“Well let’s see what I can do.” Becky said, grinning and pulling Siobhan up onto her lap. Relishing in the feeling of someone needing her. Of having a goal. 

If there was one thing Becky was looking for right now, it was a distraction... A mountain to climb. 

  
  


**Bayley**

Bayley was an extremely cheerful person. The term ‘determinedly’ had also been used. Bayley’s own wife had accused her of being Buddy the Elf come to life. Regardless of the nomenclature, Bayley Martinez was just a happy person. Preferring to see the best in others and to like as well as to be liked.

Most days this was easy for her, as it was more or less her natural state of being. But some days tested even her determined optimism. Others made it almost impossible. Today was one of the latter. By all rights, it should have been a day for smiles. Bright ones of the kind that she’d worried she might never wear again during the bleakest times while Sasha was in the hospital. 

Sasha was coming home.

It had been just over three months since the accident. Three months of Bayley forced to see her wife, one of the strongest and proudest people she’d ever met, reduced to being bedridden and dependent on others for the most mundane of tasks. And she knew that as bad as it had been for her to watch, it would have been so much worse for Sasha herself. Sasha hated having to rely on others that she didn’t know well, and her entire life had become one of reliance on nurses, orderlies, and doctors.

Worse, Bayley had been forced to return back to work. Not that she had anything to really complain about with how ESPN had treated her during the crisis. No one at the network had been badgering her to set a date for her return. More than that, Renee Young had selflessly declared she would be willing to fill in as long as was required. Bayley’s immediate boss, AJ Styles, had even arranged so that her time away would not be counting against her paid time off.

No one had actually MADE Bayley got back to work, she hadn’t even really wanted to. But she’d ultimately decided that it was the only course of action open to her. Given her way, Bayley would have spent every waking minute in Sasha’s room with her. But as it turned out, and she should have seen this, such an arrangement was very trying on Sasha.

Bayley had no sort of doubt about how much her wife loved her. She and Sasha were as devoted to each other as any couple well could be. But Sasha spent most of her days in pain that ranged from very bad to extreme. No one was in their best mood under such circumstances, and Sasha Banks was not the most patient of people. Bayley could see the huge effort it took for Sasha not to lash out at her care team every day.

But if Sasha wasn’t going to bark at her caretakers then she would be doubly certain to hold herself in check with Bayley. The problem was that the effort of doing so, on top of grappling with her physical pain, was making a bad situation worse. On top of this, Bayley wasn’t sure how long her wife could actually keep the front up. And she dreaded nothing more than the possibility of ending up in an argument with Sasha while she was in such bad shape. Bayley wouldn’t risk doing anything, however small, to impede her wife’s recovery.

It might not have been apparent to someone who didn’t know her well, but Bayley could tell that at times Sasha was really struggling to remain patient. It hurt Bayley beyond words that Sasha would, occasionally, through a pause before speaking or a quick glance indicate that Bayley herself was a cause of irritation. But Bayley was honest enough to admit that one of her anxious ticks was to mother people. 

‘Like a god damned hen’ Becky had once told her when Bayley had been visiting the Irish fighter while she recovered from a fight. So while it went against every instinct she had as a wife and a person, Bayley had made the decision to go back to work. 

She had hoped that being back in her routine and having things to do might help her through her present crisis. She’d been wrong. Instead, she found herself resenting every minute she had to spend away from the hospital. All this while being forced to admit to herself that if she spent any more time in Sasha’s room she might do more harm then good. It was an impossible and horrible situation to be in. 

But today she’d been hoping would be different. And maybe, just maybe, if she worked hard enough it still could be. But it would take some doing.

Sasha wasn’t ‘better’ by any stretch of that term. She was still in a physical state that might have killed some people. But she was at least out of immediate danger and not in a condition that demanded she stay in the hospital any longer. Bayley had been looking forward to this day with the enthusiasm of a child looking forward to Christmas. She’d hoped for it, prayed for it, and now it was here.

She’d been prepared for any reaction from Sasha, or so she’d thought. She’d hoped, perhaps vainly, that her wife might be as ecstatic as she was about the day. She’d even been prepared for Sasha to be scared of the prospect. Bayley had prepared eloquent pep talks and encouragements for each scenario. Yet she hadn’t been prepared for one thing.

Apathy.

Yet, that was what she found herself confronting. Sasha just didn’t seem to care. And anyone who had ever tried to maintain enthusiasm in the face of indifference knew how hard that routine could be. But hope sprung eternal within Bayley, it was her nature. So she did the only thing she could think to do, she doubled down. She would cheer up her wife if it was the last thing she did.

This was even harder on her because even looking at her wife made Bayley want to tear up. Sasha would have been the most beautiful thing in the world to Bayley regardless of circumstance, but it was still hard. Over ninety days in a hospital bed had worked a very noticeable change on Sasha. Her body, formerly a precision instrument of athletic prowess, looked thin to the point of haggard. Her face was approaching toward gaunt and her eyes seemed to lack the fire they usually had. Sasha looked very much like someone who had been forced to lay nearly motionless for three months and Bayley knew that each time her wife caught her reflection it made her want to retreat further into herself.

Sasha had defined herself for so long by what she did, by being a fighter. Even in recent years, when she’d begun to expand her sense of self, this had always been her bedrock. Now though, when it painfully obvious that Sasha was light years away from being the woman she had been before the accident, physically at least, it was clear Sasha was feeling lost.

This was what Bayley was up against, and when she really thought about it she supposed it wasn’t that surprising that she was losing. What were her efforts at good cheer, her balloons, and other gifts against the loss of a core part of Sasha’s identity? It would take a major miracle to right this ship and Bayley wasn’t sure she had such a rabbit in her hat.

“I know you said you didn’t want any big thing, and I promise there won’t be…” Bayley said with her smile plastered firmly in place “...But I did arrange for ONE little surprise.”

“OK…” was the only response that she got from the passenger seat. Sasha was staring blankly out the window at the California coast as it passed by. Bayley allowed her concern to show for a moment, and only because Sasha wasn’t looking before she bludgeoned her features back into a smile. 

“It’s waiting back at the house,” she offered. When Sasha showed no sign of reacting to this either, Bayley plowed on. “I’ve got everything set up for you in the main floor guest bedroom. Just like the doctors said. I’ve also stocked up on all your favorite food, I feel like you’ve earned a cheat meal...or eight.”

Bayley’s smile was heroic and, to her credit, Sasha made the corner of her own mouth twitch at this remark. But as fast as the expression had appeared it was gone. They drove on in silence for a few minutes before Bayley tried another tack. “I’ve been studying up on your businesses, I think I’m getting the hang of them. I’ll make sure to keep them going until you’re ready to come back and start kicking corporate butt again.”

“Don’t stress yourself out too much, Naomi and the others can handle things,” Sasha said without looking over. Naomi Fatu was Sasha’s business manager and Bayley had indeed been leaning heavily on her as she did her best to keep Sasha’s various interests afloat.

“It’s not a problem, it’s been educational,” Bayley said to no response. She turned back to stare at the road for a few moments before she cleared her throat. She debated with herself for several moments before she forced herself to say what was on her mind. “Sash, if I’m bothering you I’m sorry and I’ll just stop talking if you want.”

She instantly regretted her word choice and cursed herself internally. Now it seemed like she was accusing Sasha of thinking she was annoying. Which, in turn, would force her wife to reassure her. Bayley was supposed to be providing comfort not demanding it. Fortunately, Sasha didn’t seem to hear the remark and they passed the rest of the drive to their home in silence.

“OK, let me help you…” Bayley said as she hurried around their escalade. She opened the rear and withdrew a wheelchair that she’d purchased specifically for Sasha. It was the best model available and Bayley had had it painted in the exact same shades of blue and magenta that Sasha used or had used in her hair. It even said ‘boss’ on the side.

“I’m not going anywhere…” Sasha muttered, and Bayley didn’t miss the hint of irritation in her tone. This wasn’t that surprising when Bayley thought about it and once again she cursed herself. Sasha would hate the idea that she needed help just to get out of the car.

“OK, help me out here, alright?” she said tactfully as she pulled open the passenger door and stood beside it. She waited for Sasha to put an arm around her neck before gently hoisting her wife out of the SUV and down into the chair.

“Now don’t go speeding off on me, OK?” Bayley joked as she closed the door. Sasha didn’t answer to Bayley pulled open the rear door and took out the bag that contained all the personal effects she’d brought to Sasha during her stay in the hospital. Throwing it over her shoulder she turned to see Sasha reaching down with shaking arms toward the wheels of her chair.

Bayley’s first instinct was to rush forward to help but she restrained herself. Instead, she just looked on silently as Sasha, with obvious pain and effort, tried to wheel herself forward. It was slow going, and she barely made it a few feet before she had to stop. She was breathing hard but Bayley guessed this was due to pain more than exhaustion.

Bayley felt her hands twitch again, eager to reach out and grasp the handles on the back of the chair. She wanted to push Sasha toward the door to spare her wife the pain this effort was obviously causing. But she knew it would be nigh unforgivable for her to do so, so she forced herself to pace oh so slowly behind Sasha. Each time Sasha had to stop or stifle a grunt of pain made Bayley’s eyes mist.

The distance between where Bayley had parked and the front door was less than twenty feet but it took them almost ten minutes to cross it. By the time Sasha finally came to a stop before the door she was out of breath and obviously hurting terribly. But Bayley thought she saw the tiniest hint of triumph in Sasha’s still haunted gaze. A minuscule part of the fire that Bayley knew always burned deep inside her wife.

Crossing that short space in that wheelchair was one of the bravest things Bayley had ever seen, yet she knew she must not draw any attention to it. So she swallowed hard and stepped past her wife to push open the door to their home. 

“Bay?” came the weak voice from behind her.

“Yes?-” Bayley said as she turned quickly, having to stop herself from adding ‘what’s wrong’.

“Thank you…” Sasha whispered as she looked up for a moment. Bayley didn’t trust herself to speak so she just nodded. This seemed to satisfy Sasha as she allowed Bayley to push her up over the lip of the doorframe and inside.

“Welcome home,” Bayley said in a weak imitation of a celebratory tone as she waved at the decorations that festooned the entryway. She knew she’d gone more than a little overboard with the streamers and balloons but decorating had helped keep her mind occupied.

“Your surprise…” Sasha asked, still obviously fighting the pain “...It’s...it’s not going to take a long time is it?”

“No, no!” Bayley rushed to assure her. Setting her bag down she hurried to a side table and picked up a tablet she’d positioned there earlier. “It won’t take any time at all,” she said as she unlocked the screen and placed a call.

  
  


**Bayley/Becky/Charlotte/Sasha**

“Would you just get up here already.” Charlotte good naturedly chided Becky while she performed push-ups on the floor of her office. Their daughter laughed as she sat cross legged on her back. “Bayley’s going to be calling any minute.”

Becky gave up theatrically and let her body flop to the floor. The sweat made her black workout tank top stick to her back. She’d already finished her teaching for the day and had been getting in a hard workout with Bobby, but that came second when Charlotte called down that it was time.

“You heard yer ma. Hop on off.” 

“Alright.” Siobhan pouted as she got up and jumped up onto the only other chair next to Charlotte. Squirming and heaving herself up with a triumphant little grin. 

Becky got up and gave the small child an evil glare. “Nope. That’s my spot.”

“I don’t see your name on it mommy.” 

Charlotte rolled her eyes at the two. Sometimes it was hard to tell if she had one child or two. The sound of her laptop ringing out made her sit up a bit straighter. “Come on you two. We talked about this.” Her finger hovering over the button that would answer the call as Becky scrambled over and scooped Siobhan up into her arms. Stealing her seat back and setting the tiny girl down on her lap with a wide smile that was reserved for only her wife and daughter. 

Charlotte counted down from three as she pressed answer and they all called out in cheery unison. “Welcome home Sasha!”

Bayley’s smile was as fixed in place as if it had been cemented there. As she held the tablet up so her wife could get a good view of their best friends, her stomach twisted in nerves. She was praying to anything that might be listening that Sasha wouldn’t snub Becky and Charlotte. She knew both other women would understand, but she was worried about what it might signify about her wife and her state of mind. 

The journey from the car to the house had taken more out of Sasha than she would ever admit She felt as though she’d just gone five rounds while wearing a weight vest. She was tempted to just shut down when she saw the faces on the screen in front of her. But then she saw the smallest of trio on the screen and some small remnant of her usual fire flared to life.

Doing her best to smile, though she knew it looked more like a grimace, Sasha took a deep shuddering breath. Even this hurt but she wasn’t going to fall down in front of her god daughter. “Hey, guys...how are all of you?”

“We’re doing great over here. Little Boss over here has been annoying me to talk to you.” Charlotte started.

“Which led to her annoyin’ me.” Becky added as she bounced Siobhan on her knee. “Had me own lil’ shadow while I was teachin’.” Smiling softly at her daughter before she really looked at Sasha and saw the exhaustion behind the mask. “Wish we could be there.”

Sasha dug deep in an effort to make her smile just a tiny bit authentic as she looked directly at the little girl. “Hey there, Little Boss, what have you been up to? Still learning a lot from Bobby?”

Siobhan nodded excitedly and explained some of the new wrestling moves he’d been teaching her. Animatedly using Becky as a poor example for the moves since she had to stay within the camera’s view. “I love learning from Bobby! And he can’t say no to me.” She added with a mischievous grin. 

Becky chuckling softly while Charlotte gave her daughter a stern, motherly glare. 

Sasha managed a chuckle at this, though it felt like being shanked with a hot knife. “Still got him wrapped around your finger, huh? How are aunty Ruby and Liv?”

“Liv showed me how to make popcorn on the stove, and aunty Ruby looked tired.” Siobhan said with a blunt honesty that only a child could bring. 

Bayley was in the odd situation of feeling both overwhelming love for her god daughter while also still feeling overpoweringly sad for Sasha. It was rather like a lava flow running into an ice flow in her heart. Still, she kept a brave face up as she continued to hold the tablet for Sasha. She could tell her wife was making a huge effort for Siobhan’s sake.

“Well don’t burn down your house…” Sasha said, fighting down a wince as a wave of pain rocked her. “Can you show me your boss pose before your aunt and I talk with your moms?”

Siobhan wasted no time in standing on Becky’s lap and following Sasha’s instructions. Charlotte always knew that the other fighter was an ace in the hole should her daughter ever refuse to do something. “Alright Shiv. Say goodbye and go find Liv. I’m sure she could use a helping hand.”

“Bye aunt Sasha! I hope you feel better!” Siobhan called out with a bright happiness. Untainted by the grim reality of how bad Sasha’s injuries were. 

“Later trouble, be good, OK?” Sasha said quietly.

“No promises!” She called out loudly while running out the room so she didn’t have to be there for the boring adult conversations. 

Sasha finally closed her eyes and grunted. This was the only reaction she allowed herself to the agony she was feeling. This despite the fact that it would have been enough to reduce most adults to whimpering puddles on the floor. She kept her eyes squeezed shut for several long moments before speaking again. “I hope I didn’t scare her.”

“You didn’t.” Becky assured her without a second of hesitation. 

Charlotte swallowed the lump in her throat that always seemed there around Sasha. She just couldn’t read her like this. This wasn’t the woman she knew. “We’re glad you can finally be at home Sasha. We’ll make it out there soon.”

Now that Siobhan was gone, Sasha felt herself beginning to sink back within herself. She didn’t like that she was doing it, her friends deserved much better, but she felt it happening nonetheless. “Yeah, that would be nice,” she said without enthusiasm.

Feeling it was time for her to step in, Bayley repositioned herself so she was in the frame with Sasha. “We’d love a visit, any idea when you’re thinking?”

“About a week from tomorrow. We can get a few things done while we’re out there, but besides that we’ve got nothing but time for you two.” Charlotte said with a loving smile. Trying her best to act like it was no big deal. It really wasn’t. Even before Sasha’s accident they’d traveled to California and back quite often. She didn’t want it to feel like it was a burden this time. 

Sasha felt their eyes on her at this. She knew she was supposed to say how great it would be to see them, and it wasn’t that she didn’t want to see her friends. But right now, she was having a hard time mustering the energy to care about anything. Forcing the corners of her mouth to twitch, she nodded before looking at Becky. “It won’t mess with your training schedule?”

Becky waved away her worry. “I can take a day off. Startin’ to feel old over here without a fight to prep fer.” Biting her lip and catching herself before she accidentally added, ‘You know the feelin’’. She wouldn’t have meant it in a rude way but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t have been thoughtless of her. “Besides, I was already plannin’ on goin’ down to yer gym. Maybe get in some rounds against whoever’s there. Give ‘em an impromptu lesson. Have some fun.”

Sasha knew intellectually that Becky hadn’t meant anything by these remarks. But they hit Sasha with a pair of punches to the gut that she wasn’t up to handling. First, was the reminder that Becky could train and that Sasha couldn’t. Second, and more painfully, was the unspoken reminder of who would NOT be at the gym when Becky visited. It was too much for Sasha.

“I’ll...I’ll see you when you two get here…” she said as she looked down and put her hands on the wheels of her chair. WIth a growl of agony she began trying to wheel herself away.

Bayley’s expression was one of profound concern, but she had the presence of mind to turn back to the screen. “We’re both really excited to see you two. I’m going to go help her get settled now. Love you two.”

Becky and Charlotte easily caught the way Sasha seemed to wish she was anywhere but there. The latter quickly calling out, “Love you too. Call me later if you need to talk.”

“Will do,” Bayley said before ending the call.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Bayley**

Later that night Bayley was sitting in her home office staring dejectedly at the monitor in front of her. What stuck out most was the number next to her inbox in the email client. Seven-hundred sixty-one unread emails, and she’d been hard at work for the last two hours. 

To the general public, Sasha Banks was a fighter. And being a fighter was certainly a large part of who Sasha was. But to Bayley and others who knew her better, Sasha was a renaissance woman. It was true that her generational talent in the cage had been what had opened her other opportunities to her, but Sasha had long since transcended the mere description of ‘athlete’. 

For example, Sasha was entrepreneur. Among her many businesses were a record label, production company, a venture capital firm, houseboat rental businesses on Lake Tahoe, nutrition bars and shakes, a clothing line, three restaurants, and an arcade. Perhaps more impressive was that Sasha somehow managed to stay personally involved in all of these various ventures while still maintaining her fighter schedule.

Bayley had tried to keep up with the workload for a few weeks and she was already drowning. Sasha’s business manager, Naomi, had been doing her best to keep everything running but somethings just required the boss. Or, in this case, the bosses power of attorney. So it fell to Bayley to try and keep her wife’s business empire together. This was complicated greatly by the fact that she had no personal interest in (and she felt no aptitude for) business.

The work seemed to be self replicating, everytime Bayley took care of one issue another one would pop up. Hundreds and hundreds of lines on payroll, cross promotion, taxes, inventory, regulations, and more. Bayley’s brain hurt just remembering the work she’d already done. The only thing that kept her going was her absolute certainty that she would not let any of this work near her wife.

Deciding to take a break from reviewing the proposed menu changes from Sasha’s executive chef in Phoenix, Bayley closed that email and sagged in her chair. Blowing out a long breath, she reached for her phone and stared at it. She was so tempted to call Charlotte, or even Alexa. She felt both would be much better suited to this sort of work. Both of them ran their own businesses after all. But after a regretful sigh, Bayley put her phone down. 

Both Charlotte and Alexa had their own lives with their own problems. Bayley wouldn’t dump her issues on their shoulders just to make herself feel better. Besides, Bayley wasn’t certain Sasha would want anyone else seeing the inner workings of her businesses. Even friends. No, this was Bayley’s burden to bear for now. But she needed a break.

Closing her email, Bayley decided to resume a research project she’d been working on. Opening her browser she called up the spreadsheet she’d put together. On it was a long list of names, some of the best physical therapists from around the country. Another column with yet more names contained the most highly recommended in home caretakers that she could find.

The sad reality was that no matter how Bayley wished she could do it all her own, she would need help caring for Sasha. Her parents had offered to move in temporarily but she’d discarded this thought. Not only was she not positive that would be best for her own mental health but she also knew that Sasha always felt she had to be on her best behavior around her in-laws. Bayley didn’t want Sasha to ever feel like she had to be ‘on’ for her sake, especially not now.

Of course Bayley couldn’t make this kind of decision for Sasha on her own. But she was determined to winnow the list down to a manageable amount of choices so as not to overwhelm her wife. This would have been challenging enough, but it would take a truly exceptional person to handle this job. Sasha didn’t have the easiest of personalities to deal with even under ideal circumstances. Bayley was under no illusions about this or the fact that a physically wrecked Sasha wouldn’t occasionally be ferocious to those around her. 

Knowing this, one name kept swimming to the front of Bayley’s mind as she reviewed the list. Checking the time, Bayley decided that it was still just permissible to call at this hour. Punching in the number she waited as the phone rang.

“Hello?” an unfamiliar voice said on the second ring.

“Hello, may I speak with Dr. Baker, please?” 

“Speaking.”

“Dr. Baker, my name is Bayley Martinez. I’m calling on behalf of my wife, I wondered if you might be able to discuss possibly coming to work for us for awhile?”

“Of course.”

  
  


**Sasha**

A guest bedroom in Sasha Banks’ house would have qualified as a luxury suite in most high end hotels. Indeed ‘bedroom’ failed to do it justice. Each of the four such rooms (or sets of rooms) in her home came with an attached full bathroom and living/sitting room in addition to a walk in closet larger than many master bedrooms. On top of all of this, everything within these guest suites was top of the line. 

As physical comforts went, there wasn’t much more you could ask for. But now that was stuck in one, Sasha felt as though it was a cell. A place she was exiled to.

It was truly a case of always wanting what you couldn’t have. Sasha had wanted to get out of the hospital more than anything, but now that she was home what she wanted was to be in her own bedroom.

Sighing, she turned her head to look out the windows. These faced north and showed a view of the winding coastal road and the cliff it sat on. Sun spilled in through them illuminating everything with a gentle light. It was the kind of view that people paid millions for, and that Sasha had paid millions for. Today she rolled away from it in disgust.

The root of Sasha’s present mood was simply that she was bored. She couldn’t DO anything, not really. She could watch TV, but you could really only do so much of that. It was at times like this she wished she had Bayley’s interest in video games. Sasha’s wife could spend an entire day in front of the TV and seemingly not miss it, but Sasha was more of a casual gamer. She often told herself she should read more, but she wasn’t going to be able to concentrate as long as she felt trapped.

Turning back over, Sasha’s gaze turned wistful as she looked out the windows. Maybe if she just got a little fresh air. Her eyes flicked to the sliding door that led out onto the deck outside. It was only about six feet from her bed, she didn’t need help for a trip like that. Unfortunately for Sasha, this last assumption proved to be false.

She should have known she was in trouble when even pulling the covers back off her body was enough to leave her gasping. Not so much because she was out of breath but because of the pain the motion caused. Sasha now had more metal inside her body than your average superhero, and even that was barely sufficient to hold her together. But, as she always had, she fought through the pain. 

But if removing the covers had been bad, sitting up was pure stabbing agony. Sasha actually had to bite her own hand to prevent herself from crying out. The pain was so intense that Sasha began to sag sideways. And this, doomed her. Before she was even aware of it she was tipping and even through her agony she knew that worse was to come. Sasha Banks, a woman who had gone toe to toe with some of the most dangerous women in the world, fell out of bed and screamed. 

The lightning bolt of pain that blasted through her body was more intense than anything she’d felt since the first days after the accident. It was omnipresent and overpowering, shutting down all other thoughts and feelings within her. It was so dominating that she wasn’t even aware she had screamed with agony, or that tears were falling down her cheeks as she writhed on the floor.

She didn’t even hear the pounding feet and someone shouting her name in fear. She didn’t feel the hands on her nor even notice as someone knelt beside her. She only barely noticed when someone began to lift her gently off the ground and back into the bed. Even the luxuriantly soft sheets and mattress hurt. But the worst of it was, she never even blacked out. She was aware of every minute of pounding pain until, what felt like a lifetime later, the tide began to recede.

After a long time, when she was able to focus on things other than her pain, Sasha realized she wasn’t alone. Someone was sitting on the bed beside her, someone that was stroking her hair and whispering something that Sasha couldn’t understand. It took another few moments of concentration before Sasha realized that she couldn’t understand the words because they were in Spanish. Cracking an eye a fraction of an inch, she saw what she’d expected to see, her wife. 

“Está bien, estoy aquí. Estás a salvo, no tienes que ser fuerte,” Bayley whispered. Sasha couldn’t see her wife’s face without turning her head and that seemed to be far beyond her capabilities right now. But she tried to draw what comfort she could from just being there with her wife. She wasn’t sure if it did anything, but she wanted to believe it had. Maybe that was enough.

Though Sasha hadn’t moved beyond barely opening a single eye, yet somehow Bayley sensed that she was more alert now. “What happened?” was all she asked, still in a gentle whisper and still stroking Sasha’s hair.

“I...wanted to go outside,” Sasha murmured. For some reason, though the pain was subsiding, she felt like crying again. But she refused to let these tears fall.

“Why didn’t you-” Bayley started to say before she trailed off. She was quiet for awhile, just caressing Sasha’s temple, before she spoke again. “You wanted to go outside without needing my help.”

Sasha didn’t nod, or do anything to acknowledge what Bayley had said. Nor did she have to.

“You’ll get there, mi amor. I’m not just saying that either…” Bayley said “...You are the strongest and most resilient person I’ve ever known, Sash. The doctors told me you’d be in the hospital for five months, you were home in just over three. And how many times after a fight have you been back at it well before anyone else thought it was possible. So if you really put your mind to it then you will be back.”

Sasha managed a very faint smile at this, but she was glad her eyes were closed. She knew the expression wouldn’t have reached them. And this would have been a dead giveaway to someone as perceptive as Bayley.

“But it is a nice day…” Bayley added casually “...And I could use a second opinion on a few things so if you wouldn’t mind sitting outside with me?”

Sasha knew what her wife was doing, it was fairly obvious. And she was grateful on some level, but this wasn’t primary in her mind. No, what was primary was the fact that she needed help just to walk a few feet. That a mere fall out of bed was enough to make her feel like she was dying. And that she felt as though she were a burden on Bayley.

She had worked her whole life to be able to stand on her own two feet. From next to nothing, Sasha had reached a point where she didn’t really have to depend on anyone if she didn’t want to. That was part of why she felt so connected to her wife, she had chosen to embrace a beautiful symbiosis with Bayley. But now she wasn’t an equal partner coming together with another to be something more. Now she literally couldn’t wipe her own ass without help.

To say this was humiliating to her would have been the understatement of the century. But the root of Sasha’s current depression was deeper than simply being forced into embarrassing situations. Sasha had been forced to have others help her use the bathroom after a few particularly brutal fights, so it wasn’t actually new. What was bothering her was something very old.

She’d thought she was over it. She’d hoped she was. It had been years since she’d tormented herself with these thoughts, but now here they were. She was a broken woman, barely even an adult in terms of functionality. How could she be worthy of the remarkable woman beside her any longer? How could anyone who was so damaged? 

Because Sasha didn’t think she would be able to fulfill Bayley’s optimistic prognostication. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get better. Nor was she sure if she even deserved to. But how long would it be before Bayley realized she could do better? 

  
  


**Bayley**

“...take the bait, his people want on the show as soon as possible.”

Bayley didn’t move or otherwise acknowledge what was said to her. She was simply staring out the windows that dominated one wall of the conference room she and her senior staff were in. She was thinking about the candidates she had lined up for Sasha’s caretaker/aide. She’d checked each name with her wife and Sasha had at least acknowledged she’d heard them all. 

But this reaction had disturbed Bayley more than if Sasha had fought her over each candidate. Bayley knew how little her wife liked the idea of having a caretaker, Sasha actually hated it. Or she had, at least. When Bayley had presented her list to her wife, Sasha had seemed like she simply didn’t care. Bayley knew that this apathy was a defense mechanism but it didn’t make it any less frustrating to deal with.

“Bayley?” someone asked her.

“Hmm?” Bayley asked as she looked up, eyes wide as though surprised to find herself in the middle of a show meeting.

“Did you hear me?” Aliyah al-Areebi asked, sounding slightly miffed. The reporter was sitting a few spots down from Bayley with a large packet in front of her. One of several that she had handed out to the meeting.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat it?” Bayley asked. She hadn’t actually heard any of what the reporter had said. She could tell Aliyah knew it from the annoyance in her eyes, but the reporter was as aware as anyone of Bayley’s current situation so she dutifully repeated herself. 

“I said that the UFC story we ran last week, it’s getting huge play. We must have touched a nerve as well because Dana White’s office reached out to me. They wanted to know when is the soonest we could get someone on the show so they can respond,” Aliyah couldn’t keep a hint of smug triumph out of her voice as she said this.

Bayley did her best to drag her brain back to the matter at hand. She tried to remember what the show’s schedule looked like in the coming days but it wouldn’t come. In the end she had to look to her right at her executive producer. “Chad?”

“We’re full up through the end of the week. The Blanchard booking on next monday is still in the air but they could get back to us at any moment. We don’t want it to seem like we’re jerking them around,” Chad Gable told her. As usual he had everything to do with the show locked away somewhere in his head. Bayley actually found it to be a minor relief to be able to focus on this problem. It took her mind off of Sasha, even if only for a few moments. 

“We still have that Io Shirai bio piece in the can, right?” Bayley asked the room.

“Yep,” Gable answered. Bayley nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Dakota Kai.

“Dakota? You have any objection to running it on Monday? We’ll plan to close with it so you’ll get some sit down time at the end of the show,” Bayley asked.

“Yeah, happy to. That’s why we shot it right? Plug and play,” the young reporter answered. 

“Aww look at our rookie picking up the lingo and everything,” Aliyah teased. Dakota made a face at the other reporter but didn’t look unhappy at the comment. Bayley was quite pleased with how the relationship between the two women had developed since they’d begun working together. From hesitancy on Dakota’s part and skepticism on Aliyah’s the two reporters had formed an unlikely friendship. Bayley even suspected that Aliyah felt somewhat protective of the New Zealander.

“If Blanchard doesn’t get back to us then we’ll do a prediction segment for Bellator. Worst comes to worst I know we can get Mojo on short notice,” Bayley said. Feeling a tiny echo of the usual excitement she experienced from doing her job. 

An hour after this, Bayley was in her office wading through her backlog of emails when her phone buzzed. Looking down she saw a 617 area code, which meant Boston. Normally when she got calls from Boston it was from someone she knew, Becky or Charlotte. But this wasn’t a recognized number, yet it was someone who had Bayley’s personal cell. Bayley’s curiosity was piqued.

Picking the device up off her desk she tapped it’s screen. “Hello?”

“This is Bayley, right?” Came a distinctly female accent Bayley couldn’t quite place right away, though it sounded somewhat familiar. 

“This is Martinez, who is this?” Bayley asked. She didn’t know for certain who this was so she aired on the side of being professional.

“Just the woman I need. But I’m a little shook ya didn’t recognize the real champ. Accent normally gives it away.” Droning on and on to the point where it almost seemed like the caller was drawing it out on purpose to waste Bayley’s time. “Toni Storm. I got some info to get out there and I figured you were the perfect platform.”

Bayley blinked in surprise at this answer. She’d met Toni several times, of course. They’d always been on good terms, but she couldn’t recall ever giving the other woman her personal cell. Still, the term ‘info’ had caught in her mind and she was going to listen. “Hello, Toni, nice to hear from you. How are things out in Boston?”

A small chuckle came from the other side of the line. “It’s about to get a lot more fun out here. Shane McMahon is letting me choose my next opponent. There isn’t a clear number one contender, I’m on a bit of a streak defending this belt, and there’s a hell of a stage coming up in a couple months, right here in Boston. So all I need now is someone to stand across that cage…”

Bayley was still trying to bully her brain back into full working order, but she got enough from this to realize Storm was holding a bombshell in front of her. Quickly sending an IM to Chad Gable to hurry to her office, she drew a notepad toward her. “Well that’s fairly unprecedented, any ideas on whom you’ll be selecting yet?”

“Well given the event is on July 4th weekend, I thought it would be a fun idea to look back to our past. See how far we’ve come. You know?” Toni paused as if she wanted an answer. Prolonging the inevitable like it was fun for her. Knowing you were about to drop a bomb in someone’s hands was an addicting thrill. 

“An interesting notion. So someone you’ve faced before?” Bayley prompted gently. There was an art to getting information from people, even willing people. Bayley knew enough about the craft to know what Toni wanted now was an appreciative audience. More than that she wanted the chance to demonstrate her superior knowledge. Bayley knew that Toni would have been grandstanding like this over a previous opponent but by asking, she allowed the fighter to tell her that she was wrong.

“I can see why you’d think that but I’m thinking bigger. I took some time to think about it and there was one name I kept coming back to. One name that’s followed me around since day one no matter what I accomplish.” Toni paused for a moment. “I want to show the world that Becky Lynch was good… But I’m the greatest.”

Bayley was well and truly rocked by this revelation. It was extremely uncommon for a fighter from one camp to fight another from the same camp. And it was unheard of in a situation where there wasn’t a champion and #1 contender situation. “Wow...that is some information. This is confirmed?”

“The people that need to know, know. Now it’s just on Becca to come out of her hiding and accept.” Another dramatic pause to laugh. “If she doesn’t, it’d probably be the smartest thing she’d ever done. I know I wouldn’t want to get battered in front of everyone I knew.”

Bayley felt her face tightening at these comments about her friend, but she took refuge in her professional mask. “I take it you’ve run this past Charlotte if you’ve come to me with it?”

“Like I said, the people that need to know, know. I could always take my little scoop elsewhere. Even if she’s trash, Mandy Rose sure can get the word out quickly.” Toni not so subtly threatened. 

“That would be your right…” Bayley said in the same cool tone she always met threats with “...But so long as it’s been approved I think we can run with this. Did you want to be on the show to announce it?”

“How quick can you have me on air?” Toni asked calculatingly. 

For the last minute or so as she’d been talking, Bayley had also been writing. Pushing the notepad across the desk toward Gable, who had just arrived, she saw him read the note and then look up with interest. He stood silently and walked over to a large calendar on the wall. He surprised Bayley by pointing to that day’s show and holding up two fingers to indicate segment two. Bayley hadn’t thought they’d be able to turn it around that quickly but if anyone knew the show better than her, it was her executive producer.

“We tape in two hours, could you join us by video about fifteen after?” she asked.

Toni seemed to take a moment to think it over. “I’ll be there… You’re welcome.” She added before the call disconnected. 

“Nice to talk to you too…” Bayley muttered before sighing. She had a lot of work to do now that today’s show would contain the news tip of the year. She just hoped Charlotte was ready for the amount of media that was about to come down on her.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait everyone. Sickness and life got in the way. At least if covid-19 makes us quarantined we can still write. Next chapter shouldn't be so far in the future. 
> 
> We got a lot of spotlight on the reality of what is facing Bayley and Sasha, and even got a little bit of a fun set up there at the end. Things are going to probably get worse before they get better, but if you read the first one of these you probably understand that at least. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed this and we can't wait to show you more of what we got in store. Buckle up (I realized how horrible this pun was in retrospect), we got a bumpy ride ahead still.


	4. The Clouds Roll In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bayley has to confront not only a hurting wife but a tumultuous professional life
> 
> Becky is dealing with the fallout of being blindsided
> 
> Charlotte must keep one eye on a darkening horizon while dealing with a fresh new blow-up
> 
> Sasha is forced to contemplate just how long the road ahead of her will be

**Bayley/Charlotte:**

Charlotte tapped her finger on her wooden desk, her eyes scanning the space in lieu of anything else to do as the phone at her ear rang. Stopping for a brief moment at the picture of her, Becky and Siobhan at the Super Bowl last year. A tiny bit of calmness rushing back as she waited. 

The television monitor in her office was leading into Sportscenter and she knew Bayley’s schedule by heart. Her show should be wrapped up now, but she still wasn’t picking up. Charlotte was trying not to let her irritation at this new development cloud her judgement, but it wasn’t the easiest. She’d just had a fire lit beneath her feet and hadn’t even known it was coming. 

Bayley had just made her way into her office and closed the door when her desk phone began to ring. Sighing, she dropped into her chair and spun the device toward her. To her surprise, she saw it was coming from Boston. That really only meant it could be from one person, but Charlotte usually called her cell.

“Hello, this is Martinez,” she answered, in case it wasn’t Charlotte calling.

Charlotte tried to be as diplomatic as possible, but some of her annoyance probably still came through with, “What was that Bayley?”

Bayley blinked. “Uh, what?”

“Why was Toni on **your** show today?” Charlotte asked like it was obvious.

Still confused by the tone of the conversation, Bayley took a moment to consider her response. “She reached out to me and said she had news to break. It was a good get for us. I-” she trailed off here and something occurred to her. “Did she not tell you?” she asked in a small voice.

Charlotte sighed heavily. Even if she didn’t know that Bayley would never lie to her about something like this, the tone of her question made it abundantly clear there was no subterfuge on her part. There was still a large part of her that felt blindsided and irrationally angry. It wasn’t like she ever forced Toni to check with her on everything she said, but something like this; calling out a teammate that hadn’t fought in more than a year, and was also her wife, didn’t sit well with her. “Shit… No… She didn’t.” 

  
Charlotte knew she was being curt but she couldn’t help it. In the same breath that she thought about her wife and how Becky would take being called out by the woman she’d helped mentor, she couldn’t help but see how good the match would be from a business perspective. She felt a little sick that she even thought of that right now and maybe some part of that self-loathing was coming through in her voice. 

“This **really** wasn’t what I wanted to be dealing with tonight.”

Bayley’s stomach plummeted at these words. She was kicking herself as she realized she hadn’t ever followed up with Charlotte to confirm the interview. She’d taken it for granted that Storm had checked in with her team owner and manager. Journalism 101 and Bayley had completely spaced it. Leaving aside that she’d clearly hurt Charlotte personally she might have also alienated Charlotte Flair, the powerful team owner.

But Bayley wouldn’t hide, that wasn’t her. “Charlotte, I know it doesn’t mean much but I am truly sorry. Toni implied that she’d checked with you and ran with it. This is on me.”

“No, it’s not,” Charlotte said hastily. With Sasha being out of things she knew how busy Bayley was. Some things were bound to get missed with how much she’d taken on. She felt like she couldn’t be angry at the other woman but that did nothing to change the difficult situation she’d suddenly been put into. “I’ve obviously got to talk to Toni…” Sighing once again as she remembered, “And I’m sure Becks is going to hear it sooner or later… That’ll be fun.”

As grateful as she was to Charlotte for being so forgiving, Bayley wasn’t quite as ready to let herself off the hook. “If you want, I can talk to her,” she offered. 

Charlotte just wanted to go back an hour before she had all this extra stuff to deal with. “It’s fine. You’ve got enough to deal with. It’s just… It’ll be fine. I’ll figure it out.”

“Char? Are we OK?”

Charlotte closed her eyes and felt her whole body deflate. Maybe she should have waited before making this call. If anyone deserved the brunt of her annoyance it was Toni, not Bayley. “We’re good… It’s a lot. You know?” Unable to exactly express why this whole scenario was bothering her so much. 

“Please tell me if there is anything I can do to make amends for this mess. And... it’s nice to talk to you even if it’s like this,” Bayley said. 

It was almost impossible to be angry at Bayley and Charlotte wasn’t an exception. It didn’t help that hearing Bayley so apologetic for something that was probably great for her show made the Flair feel more than a little guilty. She had to take a deep breath and try and forget the river of bullcrap that was coming her way in the coming days. “Can you call me tomorrow evening? Let me figure this out during the day and we can talk about anything other than work.”

  
  


**Becky/Charlotte:**

To say Charlotte was tired would be putting it lightly. She and Becky had already been in the process of figuring out where Siobhan would be going to school- a big enough task on its own and now she had everyone in the MMA world breathing down her neck after Toni’s interview. 

She hadn’t seen Becky this morning, which wasn’t the weirdest thing in the world. Sometimes she’d be up super early for training but normally she’d make Charlotte aware of it the day prior. The fact that she’d gotten no such message made her feel confident that her wife had heard Toni’s comments. 

Even when she’d arrived at the gym this morning with Siobhan at her side Charlotte could feel an odd tension in the air waiting to be cut. 

She sent a soft smile over to where Lashley and Ruby were working out. The smiles of greeting she received back noticeably more reserved than a normal morning. Almost like they were waiting for the same thing as her. 

Her eyes traveled across the room and she stopped over at Liv’s office where she could see the tiny spitfire working on stretching Toni’s legs like it was just a normal day. 

Charlotte didn’t have to be a genius to see the two trains were going to collide sooner rather than later. She only had to wait in her office for about twenty minutes before the collision began with a stereotypical bang. 

She could already hear two distinct accents slowly rising in volume and knew a headache was incoming. Charlotte turned her head towards where Siobhan had set up on her couch with a pencil and some paper, drawing what looked like a dog. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation but maybe having a dog around wouldn’t be the worst. “Hey honey, stay here for me. I’ll be right back. Mommy has to go take care of some things.”

“Ok.” The little one said without looking up from her work.

Charlotte left her office and quickly closed the door when a few choice words she’d rather not have Siobhan learning sounded from down in the gym. 

“The ‘ell was that shite? After all I did fer ya?”

“Did fer me? What you did for me was cast a shadow over everything I’ve accomplished.” Toni jabbed back. The two fighters nearly nose to nose. 

“Why’d you never bring it up then?!?!” Becky questioned with a shout. “Huh? How many years have you been holdin’ it in? Have the guts ta jus’ say it to me face. ‘Stead of waitin’ out and randomly callin’ me out. You see me all the time.”

Toni sneered. “Well, are you going step like The Man you claimed to be? Or was that all in the past.”

“Yer walkin’ close to the edge Storm. You should take a step back and remember who taught you how to fly.” Becky was clearly simmering with bitterness and even if Charlotte was the only one who could see it, there was a deep pool of betrayal in her eyes. The redhead truly had treated this gym and everyone in it like they were family. Charlotte knew how deeply Becky cared. She’d admitted as much once. Opening up to her wife about how Finn kicking her from the team made her extra protective of the one she had. 

“Are you trying to intimidate me mama Becky? That’s not gonna work. I’m going to make my name in this sport as the best and no matter who I’ve beat, they always compare me to you.”

“Let them talk. Who the fuck cares!”

“I DO!” Toni yelled so loudly it shocked Becky into silence. 

Bobby took a deep breath and tried to step in. “I don’t think this is the best time-”

“There isn’t a better time.” Toni interrupted before turning her attention back to Becky. “You don’t care because you have the luxury of legacy. You already made your mark on the history of this sport. And now you’re not even fighting anymore. Just playing house with-”

“Careful,” Becky growled low. Already feeling the old pull to solve things with violence and anticipating the rush that came from hitting some else and being hit back. It never left. It was just locked away for now to protect the ones she loved. 

“The house mom is going to tell me to be careful? Come on Becky. You can’t honestly tell me you wouldn’t do the exact same thing in my scenario?”  
  


“I wouldn’t have gone behind your back to ask fer a fight. I’d a just punched you in the mouth.” Becky said in anger. 

Toni smirked. “Good to know.” Pulling back and throwing a left hook at Becky’s jaw the redhead saw coming but did nothing to defend against. 

Cries of attempts at peace and defusing the situation filled the gym but Becky just smiled as she wiped the corner of her mouth. 

“I thought I taught you better than that. If yer gonna get a cheap shot in, you best knock me out with it.” 

“I knew it had been a while since you’ve actually fought. Didn’t want to take you out before the real fight.”

Becky chuckled and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Well, that was dumb of ya. Now yer givin’ me a chance to reply.” She said before swinging a punch into Toni’s stomach and charging at her with a takedown. Both scrambling for position as soon as they reached the ground. 

Becky wasn’t even aware of what was happening outside the fight. All she could remember was that as soon as they hit the ground multiple pairs of hands were pulling them apart. 

  
Nothing really cut through her anger until a pair of piercing eyes she’d recognize anywhere were suddenly burning a hole into her own. “What the hell are you doing?” Charlotte asked as she pulled the completely compliant fighter away from the scene. 

“She fuckin’ started it. You saw that interview. Literally askin’ fer her head to fall off her shoulders.” Becky growled out through her teeth. Still seething even if Toni was no longer in her line of sight. 

“Of course I saw it. What do you think I’ve been doing since last night? That doesn’t give you the right to punch her. Honestly, tell me that you were actually trying to have a conversation with her. Make me believe it. Cause all I saw was you and her acting like children.”

“Fuck you, Charlie.”

Charlotte flinched at the venom in those words and tried to remember that it was just misplaced anger at Toni. That didn’t make it easier to hear. “Becky…”

“Don’t try and lecture me. I’m takin’ that fight. And there won’t be anyone to stop me from rearranging her mug.”

Charlotte sighed and tried to calm herself down when her eyes caught a tiny movement out of the corner of her eye. Immediately composing herself and calling out to the tiny human peeking out from behind the door up to her office. “Siobhan,” she whispered.

Becky’s eyes widened and all the tension in her muscles drained away in mere moments. Turning on her heel to look towards the door. “Sweetie. What are-” She took a few steps towards the door when it closed and the sound of tiny feet running up the stairs felt far louder in the void of noise she’d left behind. 

The redhead took another step towards the door but a hand on her elbow stopped her and she looked back at the woman she trusted more than anyone else. “Give her some time. I’ll check on her.” Charlotte took a few steps towards her office before she stopped and looked back at her wife. “We’ll talk later. Get yourself together Becks. If you want to start fighting again, be sure it's what you want. Your life is a lot different now than when you last fought… I love you. I’ll be by your side whatever you choose.”

  
  


**Sasha:**

“...Tell me if you need anything, OK?”

Sasha was getting better at forcing a smile onto her face after much practice. Or at least the effect looked less like a grimace or a prelude to a biting attack. This was proving a useful skill to her as, despite not being a true people person like her wife, there had been a veritable flood of well-wishers contacting her. This was the fourth call she’d had to deal with today.

“Yeah, I will, man. Thanks for looking out homie. Say hi to the kids for me,” Sasha said. Her voice was pleasant as it could be but in her head, she was screaming ‘just leave me alone’.

“Yell, Zhuri will love to hear from you. Get better now.”

“Thanks, Bron,” Sasha said as she ended the call. The second she had, she dropped her phone on the bed beside her and let her head slump back. She stared up at the ceiling for a few moments before she heard a soft knock on the doors to her bedroom. TEMPORARY bedroom, she reminded herself internally. Or at least she hoped.

“Mrs. Banks? May I come in?”

Sasha didn’t answer for a few moments. She wished more than anything that she didn’t have to be stuck in this bed, a wreck of the woman she once was. But if she was forced to be here, and she was now, she would prefer that the person taking care of her was Bayley. Or this what she told her wife and herself. Truthfully, she was in a much darker place but she wasn’t going to let herself think about that now.

“You can go home if you like,” was what she eventually called back toward the doors. In response to this, the doors opened slowly and a short woman with tan skin and dark hair stepped through. She was wearing immaculately pressed slacks and a white polo, the whole outfit had the vague medical air...or perhaps that of a spa attendant.

“I’m off at five, you can be rid of me then,” she said airily. Her name was Layla El, she was the care assistant and physical therapist that Sasha and Bayley had hired. It would have been more accurate to say that Bayley had hired her but Sasha had been present for her interview. 

“What do you want?” Sasha asked with a sigh. She supposed that El had to be good at her job or Bayley wouldn’t have hired her. Sasha found the other woman to be as annoying as hell. First, her very presence was a constant reminder of all the things that Sasha couldn’t do now. This included being able to decide who she spent time with. Bayley had made Sasha promise that she wouldn’t fire El without discussing it with her first, and as far gone as she was Sasha wouldn’t break a promise to her wife. Not like that. 

But Sasha could have better tolerated El’s presence if she had been feeling whole. She wasn’t, not at all. Hell, she couldn’t even intimidate this tiny woman into leaving her alone. This was vexing all on its own, but it was also another reminder that she didn’t need to know how weak she now was. Every time she saw El, Sasha felt her dwindling sense of her old sense diminishing.

“For you to eat lunch, then we can get to your afternoon session,” El told her as she set a bed tray down in front of Sasha.

“What the hell is this?” Sasha demanded as she looked down at the plate in front of her.

El was bending down to fluff Sasha’s pillows as she answered. “Most people call it food.”

Sasha’s temper flared but she held her tongue until it had passed. “Thank you for that, what kind of food is it?”

“Sweet Asian salad with kale and spinach,” El explained as she moved to open the blinds.

“I wanted those closed,” Sasha grunted.

“And sunlight improves mood, elevated mood contributes to healing,” El explained. Her voice wasn’t challenging or condescending, yet it still grated on Sasha’s nerves. She could feel herself starting to really hate this woman.

“My food and my room, anything else you can ruin for me?” she growled.

“Oh, just wait…” El said this time with an annoying smile “...We’ll get to some PT soon here and you’ll hate me all the more for it.” Unfortunately for Sasha, this proved to be prophetic on Layla’s part.

Sasha was only a few months removed from an auto accident that would have been enough to kill most people several times over. It was more than a minor miracle that Sasha was even as mobile as was. She could move in her wheelchair (after a fashion) and had nearly full use of her arms, with the caveat that using them for anything more than lifting her phone set off a supernova of pain. 

This didn’t seem like much of an accomplishment to Sasha but according to her medical team, it was. Since leaving the hospital Sasha’s care had gone from Dr. Michaels and his team to Dr. Britt Baker, one of the best physical recovery specialists in the country if not the world. Sasha knew of her from her work with other athletes who had sustained serious injuries. Though Baker had never had to deal with anyone quite as destroyed as Sasha was.

But Baker lived in Pittsburgh and only flew out to see Sasha twice a month. The rest of the time she was in the hands of Layla El. And, like usual, today’s experience with the other woman was a terrible one. Not that El was anything other than her usual imperturbable pleasant self, but the work itself was excruciating. Both physically and mentally.

Physically the reason was obvious. Sasha’s body had been through an insane amount of trauma in the accident, there wasn’t one area of it that hadn’t been damaged in some way. Layla El’s job was to begin the process of re-strengthening Sasha’s body with her. This necessarily meant a lot of pulling, pushing, and tugging on both her and Sasha’s part which in turn meant a lot of pain. Even things as simple as Sasha trying to lift her legs against light resistance from her care assistant could leave the fighter gasping and grimacing.

And this was what led to the mental strain. Sasha Banks had been one of the best pure fighters in MMA history. Epithets like ‘the greatest female striker in history’ had been attached to her for years. She’d been a dominant champion in two weight classes and still held BFA records for the fastest single victory and largest payday for a single fight. She was formidable. Or she had been.

To be here, now, struggling to hold back tears as she tried to use a resistance band designed for old ladies was...difficult. It wasn’t within Sasha, even now, to quit but even she could tell she was out of her depth. No matter how hard she snarled or how hard she tried to push she couldn’t escape the truth. She wasn’t strong anymore, she couldn’t call herself a fighter in her own mind. And if she wasn’t that then what was she?

Sasha didn’t know the answer.

  
  


**Bayley/Sasha:**

Sasha’s new bedroom was located on the ground floor of her home and only a short hallway away from the front door. Consequently, she heard it when Bayley got home most days. Her wife usually arrived around the same time each day and it was one of the very few bright spots in her new routine. Usually, the sound of the door would be followed by the noises of a bag being dropped and then two shoes being kicked off in random directions. The next step would be Bayley appearing in the doorway and climbing into bed with Sasha.

Sasha wasn’t feeling particularly grateful for many things these days. It actually would have been fair to say that she hated much of her new life. But she always looked forward to those few moments when Bayley would lay next to her and hold her hand. So it was a real let down when Sasha’s wife didn’t appear today.

Bayley felt it was fair to say she was very good at her job. She kicked butt both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. She took a great deal of pride from this, she’d worked very hard to get where she was. So it was odd that she came home from work feeling as though she’d really failed that day. But today was one of those days.

As she entered the house she tossed her bag carelessly to one side before kicking off her shoes, both normal things for her. But instead of turning right and into Sasha’s new bedroom, today she trudged over to one of the couches and simply collapsed face-first onto it. The couch was a very comfortable overstuffed affair, but Bayley was in no sort of headspace to appreciate it.

She knew she had fucked up, and in a big way. And not just in a big way, but a completely inexcusably dumb way. It was the kind of mistake a first-year journalist might make nevermind someone who anchored a national show. The fact that Charlotte had been so understanding with her had just made things worse. Bayley knew she didn’t deserve her friend’s forbearance and she almost wished that Charlotte had let her have it.

She knew the only reason she hadn’t gotten a heaping dose of the legendary Flair temper was because of Sasha’s situation. As if Bayley needed another reminder of that. But the combined weight of her professional failure and her continued feelings helplessness with Sasha was enough to make even her spirit buckle. The immediate manifestation of this was a feeling of complete and overwhelming exhaustion.

“Way to go, Martinez…” she murmured into the couch. All she wanted to do was to lay there all night while trying to pretend like the day hadn’t happened. There had been a time when she could have, Sasha would have left her alone and Bayley could have just brooded in peace. But that wasn’t her life any longer. She knew that there was someone who needed her far more than she needed to mope. Which wasn’t to say she wouldn’t steal a minute or two for a quick pity party.

But when she had done this, she reminded herself of something that Meng had been fond of saying, ‘get the fuck up or fuck right off’. She might not have chosen to phrase it that way exactly but she did agree with the sentiment. So Bayley got the fuck up. When she had she squared her shoulders and marched herself into the bedroom where Sasha was waiting. A determined and ironclad smile on her face.

One of the things that Sasha heard most often about her wife was that Bayley had a truly memorable smile. Adjectives like radiant, joyful, infectious, and warming had all been used to describe it and Sasha agreed with all of these. But Sasha knew the woman behind the smile and thus she knew the subtle variations to it. So when Bayley came into her room, beaming, Sasha could tell instantly that it was a front. A front for her and this did nothing to help her sense of guilt and uselessness.

“Hey you,” Bayley said as she climbed onto the bed and curled up beside Sasha. For just a moment, despite everything weighing on her, Sasha could close her eyes and be content. Bayley’s scent alone was enough to calm her, even if just a little and only for a moment. 

“Hey,” Sasha said quietly. She tried to ride the wave of the warm feeling that Bayley’s presence brought but it didn’t last long. The fact that Bayley was curled up next to her but not touching her was a reminder of her situation. Bayley was doing this because she didn’t want to hurt Sasha physically, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt in other ways.

Sasha lay in silence for a few moments before she asked the question on her mind. “What’s wrong?”

Bayley thought about a denial. It was on her lips but she bit it back, she and Sasha had sworn they wouldn’t lie to each other. So, with a sigh, Bayley explained the whole situation. She left nothing out as she explained how Storm had contacted her and then her own blunder with how she’d handled the interview. When she finished she reached out tentatively to take Sasha’s hand. When Sasha didn’t flinch she took her wife’s arm.

Sasha thought about what she’d just heard.

“What did Charlotte say?” she asked.

“She was perfectly understanding, she was sweet,” Bayley answered. Her tone was oddly at variance with her voice as she spoke.

“You think she’s actually mad?” Sasha asked.

“No, but that almost makes it worse. She SHOULD be mad at me, but she let it slide. And then I feel bad because I should be grateful, and I am. But part of me just…” Bayley trailed off.

Sasha nodded as she closed her eyes and fought back a wave of pain, both physical and emotional. “I get it...no one likes to be pitied…” she said quietly.

Bayley felt her heart lurch at these words. How stupid was she? Here she was whining about being at work when Sasha would have given anything to be able to do so. Worse, Bayley talking about being pitied was driving home Sasha’s circumstances. “Sash, I-” she started to say but her wife shook her head.

“Can we just...lay here together...for awhile?” Sasha asked plaintively. Bayley fell silent, she had so much that she wanted to say but she knew this wasn’t the time. But even though she was more than happy to just lay with her wife, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of something else. His wasn’t the time, but it seemed like it was never the time lately for them to really talk.

  
  


**Becky:**

Becky stared down at her phone as she waited for the meeting to end. 

  
Normally she was always present and involved in these meetings but today she could barely pay attention as she heard the stories of everyone around her. She was still focused on her and Toni’s confrontation earlier and Charlotte’s words afterward. 

Even if she hadn’t fought in quite some time and probably been more of a businesswoman in those years Becky still defined herself as a fighter. It was who she was… But at one point that had been all she was. Now she was more. She was a wife and a mother. 

She wasn’t even really aware when they called the Narcotics Anonymous meeting to a close even though normally she was one of the people who essentially ran them at the Community Center. 

With a sigh, she put her phone back in her pocket. She didn’t have an answer for Charlotte. 

  
Her feet dragged behind her slowly as Becky walked towards the exit when a familiar figure cut off her route. 

“Um… Hey Becky… Long time…”

Becky closed her eyes for a moment but she stood up straight and responded in a calm voice. “Hello, Carmella.”

Her former lover looked all sorts of uncomfortable and Becky hated that she noticed it seemed as if Carmella’s face was sunken in even if the makeup she had on tried to hide that fact. “I uh… I know this is sort of awkward but when I saw you I knew I had to get something off my chest.”

Becky crossed her arms and took a deep breath. “Alright…”

She wasn’t sure exactly what she expected but it certainly wasn’t this. “I’m sorry Becky.”

Normally Becky was never at a loss for words but she simply stood there for an awkward amount of time before she realized it had been way too long. “Well… Uh… Thanks…”

Carmella looked like she wanted to say more but just gave Becky a sad, knowing smile. “Have a good night Becky.”

And with that, she was gone just as suddenly as she came. Leaving Becky more than a little confused about what had just happened. Adding on top of the confusing sundae that today had been. 

**Becky/Bayley:**

Normally by this time of night, Becky would have already been back home. It had become a sort of ritual to go to the Community Center they’d set up with Sasha’s help. She didn’t go every week, but she went as often as she could. 

  
Usually, she’d already be driving home by now but her encounter with Carmella had shaken her even if she didn’t want to admit it. So sudden and out of nowhere that it almost felt like it hadn’t happened. Instead of being at home with her wife and daughter, she was aimlessly driving around the outskirts of Boston without a clue where she was going, at one in the morning. 

After everything that happened today, Becky just needed some time to reset herself. 

Her Jeep’s high beams cut through the light fog and the dark of the night sky. Trees on either side of the road that rose high enough to cut out the light of the moon. It was easier to think out here than in the city. Hardly seeing another soul so far out here the last half an hour. 

A bright light shone from her phone in the passenger seat. Charlie flashing across the screen. “Shit,” Becky swore to herself. She should have texted her wife she might be home late. It had taken some time but eventually, she’d gotten better at informing Charlotte and not going all lone wolf on her. Typing out a quick response to let her know she was ok and returning to the road for a few minutes of silent driving down the lonely road. 

Becky wasn’t entirely sure what possessed her to pick up her phone again. Maybe her subconscious noticed something or maybe she just missed her friend. Try as she might, their relationship had changed. They’d grown apart but that was inevitable. They had wives now. She had a kid of her own. Their own lives were busy enough without those things. Perhaps that was why she felt the need to call Bayley right then. Even if part of her almost felt guilty for calling the other woman. She wasn’t her problem anymore. Sasha deserved all of her attention. So maybe she was selfish but she didn’t hang up as it rang. Not even giving a thought to the time difference between them. 

Bayley had moved out to the kitchen to let Sasha sleep. She had always been the night owl of the pair and since the earliest days of their marriage had spent most late nights alone. Sometimes she would work but most of the time she was just decompressing. Today she was too drained to try to work and was thinking of turning on her gaming PC. She was just gathering the necessary accouterments to this, a bag of the new BBQ Sabor de Soledad, when her phone began to buzz on the counter.

Shooting a guilty glance toward the bedroom where Sasha was sleeping, Bayley hurried over and snatched up the device before it could ring again. To her surprise the phone’s screen showed a prominent view up someone’s nose, the display picture she used for Becky ever since the Irishwoman had accidentally taken the picture. Smiling weakly to herself, Bayley grabbed her headset from the counter and stepped out of the kitchen and onto one of the house’s decks.

“ _Hola, mi amiga! Como esta?_ ”

“Hey Bay. I didn’t wake you or Sash I hope.” Becky started off light. Putting her phone onto the Bluetooth and throwing it back onto the passenger’s seat. 

“You know I’m always awake at this time of night _tonta._ And Sasha is sleeping so it’s OK, how are you?”

“It’s…” Becky paused with the words on the tip of her tongue but ended up going with, “... been an interesting day. But I’m guessin’ yers was pretty busy too.”

Bayley sighed as she rubbed her eyes. She had been worried this might be what this call would be about. Becky was going to give her the chewing out that Charlotte had been too polite to. But it wasn’t as though she didn’t deserve it. “It was...an experience,” she said resignedly.

Normally Becky might have picked up on the subtle tone of Bayley’s voice but instead, she just laughed nervously. “What a feckin’ shit show. Right?” Tapping her fingers against the leather steering wheel and staring out beyond her headlights at the darkness out of their reach. 

“To put it mildly...yeah…” Bayley answered cautiously, bracing against the expected explosion.

Becky thought back to her confrontation with Toni at the gym earlier, but it felt like it happened days ago for some reason. She reached over and dialed up the heat to fight off the creeping cold, but it didn’t help for this. “We uh… had some words today. At the gym.” 

Bayley didn’t have to ask for clarification of ‘who’ was in this context. “That’s not surprising, not amicable ones I bet?”

“Charlotte may have had to nearly drag me out of the room, but I’ll give you this scoop. There’s gonna be a fight.” Becky said without a care. Trying to focus on the road ahead as her conversation with Carmella kept creeping back into her thoughts. 

Bayley might have been feeling beat, but she was still alert enough to catch the significance of this statement. “Can I use that?” she asked.

“I said it, didn’t I?” Becky snapped back quickly. Immediate guilt flooding her at letting her emotions get the better of her. She wasn’t mad at Bayley. She didn’t even know if she was even mad at anyone right now. She just felt stretched thin from everything. 

Bayley pursed her lips but knew she wasn’t really in any position to be feeling aggrieved in this situation. “Is everything alright, Becks?”

“Everything is jus’ fine. I’m out at one in the mornin’ fer no reason at all.” Becky’s bad habit for sarcasm coming back in spades. A heavy sigh leaving her as she momentarily closed her eyes. “Sorry… That was bitchy.”

Bayley tried to inject a little levity into the conversation, not because she felt it but because it was a tried and true method of lifting Becky’s spirits. “Well, it’s nice to get a little glimpse of Becky classic from time to time.”

Becky groaned. “Ugh… Don’t remind me… It’s… Fuck. Bay I-” Was all she could say before her eyes caught sight of a deer jumping into the road and she slammed on the brakes. Screeching rubber on the pavement as she just barely managed to swerve around the animal. 

“Becks? Becky?! Hey! Is everything alright?” Bayley asked, eyes wide, almost shouting.

Her adrenaline was pumping and Becky took a second to get her sudden quick breathing down before she focused on Bayley’s voice and remembered. “Shit. Sorry. Fuckin’ deer jus’ jumped in front of me like he’s tryin’ to kill ‘imself.” Hastily taking in deep breaths and noticing how her hands couldn’t stop shaking on the wheel. Somehow making the responsible decision to just pull over for now. Her head suddenly filled with images of her daughter and wife without her.   
  


“Fuck... It’s all fine. Everythin’s fine. Everythin’s fine.”

“Are you OK? Do you need to call Charlotte?” Bayley asked, extremely concerned now.

“No. It’s fine. I jus’... got a little distracted. Nothin’ big.” Becky responded as she slowly calmed down from the spike of adrenaline. “Don’t need ta wake her or anythin’.”

“Do you want me to get off the phone, so you can focus on the road?”

“NO,” Becky stated decisively. Closing her eyes and leaning back in her seat. “You don’t have to go do you?”

Bayley thought about it. “No, in fact, I’d really like to have someone to talk to.”

Becky felt a wave of relief at that. “Cool. That’s cool…”

“So, did Charlotte tell you about our call?” Bayley asked, deciding that it might be best to just rip the band-aid off.

Becky tried to think back on her and Charlotte’s somewhat brief conversation after the gym confrontation. “She didn’t mention anythin’. But we didn’t have a long conversation.”

“She was...understandably...not very happy about the Toni interview. And it really only happened because I screwed up,” Bayley admitted.

Becky hadn’t heard this part of the story but she hadn’t delved for the details earlier. “Really? And here I was blamin’ it all on Toni.” She tried to joke a little bit and downplay the disappointment she could hear in Bayley’s voice. 

Bayley snorted. “Don’t worry, there is plenty of berthage on the SS Fuck Up. But I forgot to check with Charlotte if Toni’s statement was cleared before we had her on the show.”

“Well, I was gettin’ bored anyway. Been too long. And anyways, I taught the dumb shit everythin’ she knows.” Becky brushed aside her competitor and was glad to be thinking of something other than Carmella and all the baggage that brought. 

“You have any idea why Toni is acting like this?” Bayley asked. It was a valid journalistic question but she asked it more out of personal curiosity.

Becky shrugged even if Bayley couldn’t see her. “Some shit ‘bout bein’ in my shadow. What the hell was I supposed to do about that? Stupid, ungrateful, little…” She trailed off and took another slow breath to calm herself down. 

“How is that working out? You two training in the same place?”

“We’ll figure it out I’m sure,” Becky said as she dialed up the heat a little more. “I uhh… I’m jus’ talkin’ to my friend, right? Not Clark Kent?”

Bayley smiled at this. “You’re never talking to Clark unless we’re in a work setting. And even then, only if you allow it.”

Becky mirrored her smile without knowing it, but still felt more than a little nervous. “Ok... First off nothin’ happened, but… I umm… I may have seen Carmella today.”

“Oh...that...well that wasn’t what I was expecting. I didn’t even realize she lived in Boston,” Bayley said, her brain whirring as it worked out the possible implications of this news.

Becky assumed this must be how people feel when they have to reveal something personal to their mother. She wouldn’t really know. “I don’t know if she does. I was at the community center tonight and she was jus’... there.”

“I see...and why was she there?” Bayley asked, doing what a good journalist would in this situation.

Becky bit her lip. “Not really allowed to say…” Figuring the reporter could put two and two together without her having to say it. 

Several connections lit up for Bayley at this answer. It also more or less confirmed that Carmella at least lived near Boston. “So how did this chat go?”

“She…” Becky started but paused and cracked her neck. Feeling the stress already forming there. She’d give Liv a call in the morning. “Fuck. I don’t know what to think. She fuckin’ apologized Bay. I don’t feckin’ get it…”

This did surprise Bayley. Nothing about Carmella Dale’s previous interactions with Becky would have suggested to Bayley that she felt remorse. There was also the awkward fact that Becky had as much to apologize for as the other woman. A part of her that she wasn’t proud of immediately suggested that she seek Carmella’s angle. But she pushed this down, at least for now.

“Just, out of the blue?” she prompted.

Becky groaned and let her head fall into her hands. “I guess. Fuck! I don’t know. I jus-” She fell silent and stared off into the darkness in front of her. “It’s probably nothin’. How’s Sasha?” Cringing physically at how obvious her shitty attempt to shift the conversation was. Maybe she didn’t want it to work anyway. She was usually better with this stuff but something about Carmella had her falling into bad habits. 

“She’s as good as she can be expected to be. Mostly just depressed…” Bayley said before returning her attention to the matter at hand “...Look, Becks, if you don’t want to talk about Carmella that’s fine. But I want you to know I’m here and willing if you do.”

“It’s…” Becky hated how the words just wouldn’t come to her. Frustration rose till her filter broke. “Fuck. I do. She jus’ gets me- you know. I- Fuck! I didn’t really think bein’ around her would fuck wit’ me so hard.” Swallowing down the frustration and burying it deep. “Reminds me who I… You know…”

“I remember. And I take it you haven’t told Charlotte about this either?” Bayley asked delicately.

Becky groaned out loud. “I haven’t even gone home yet. Didn’t want to bring this energy back there…” Old memories she’d long ago locked away making her voice struggle to not break and let Bayley know. “Don’ wan’ Shiv to be around me when I’m… upset.”

“Why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you, Becks,” Bayley prompted her friend.

Becky was silent for a while. So long she started to wonder if Bayley would call her out on it. Her words finally came out with a nervous tremor that wouldn’t go away completely. “I don’t want to be that again. I can’t. Not with her now… I barely remember my da… But I remember enough… I don’t want to be that… I can’t.” 

Bayley sometimes wondered if she’d missed her calling as a therapist. “Be who again, Becks?”

“Me! I know myself. I fuck up. It’s what I do right? Fuck up.” Becky was almost questioning herself at this point. “I feel it still. That pull... Fuck. A week after Siobhan was born I felt like goin’ to Vegas and drinkin’ everythin’ in sight. What kind of mother thinks that shit? It’s still there. I jus’ got better at hidin’ it. What if I screw up again? Damnit. I shouldn’t even be doin’ this. You’ve got enough on your plate.”

Bayley cleared her throat. “No matter what is going on in my life, I always have time to help you, Becks. So just forget that. But aren’t you the one who educates me on this stuff? Didn’t you tell me that someone is an addict forever even if they never drink again? From that standpoint, this seems just normal, right? Also, you are NOT your father.”

Bayley knew less about Becky’s upbringing than she did about Sasha’s, which was to say she knew nothing except the bare details. But she had heard enough to infer that Becky’s parents had been less than admirable characters. Bayley knew her friend hated to talk about or think about them so it had surprised her that they had come up tonight.

“You are a wonderful mother, the best. And you are a great friend to me and Sasha,” Bayley added emphatically.

Becky sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, unfortunately not receiving the calming effect it had when Charlotte did it. Even now she was still a bit uncomfortable when it came to someone praising her for anything outside the cage. “I’m bein’ stupid aren’t I?” She mumbled quietly. “Seein’ her got to me more than I t’ought it would.”

“What are you going to do if you run into her again?” Bayley asked.

“Is ignorin’ her an option?” 

“It is if you want it to be.”

Becky mulled it over in her head for a few seconds. “I guess I’ll figure that out if I see her again.” Quickly moving on and changing the subject. “Would you have time fer dinner next weekend? I’m thinkin’ of comin’ out there already but wasn’t sure if you’d be busy.”

Bayley was aware of the clumsy change of subject, a non-astute blind woman would have been. But she allowed it because she had no desire to prolong Becky’s emotional turmoil. “When will you be out here?”

“In three days.” Becky supplied. Before she added, “And while I’m out there maybe I’d be willin’ ta sit down and talk... And if you happened to want to record that, I wouldn’t be unhappy ‘bout it.”

Bayley found herself grinning against her will. It felt odd, but good too. Like stretching muscles that she hadn’t used in a very long time. “First things first, lady. Just you? Or you and the little one?”

Becky smiled a little bit and was finally not thinking about what had happened earlier today. “Well, Charlie’s goin’ to be busy with work. I think I can persuade her into bringin’ Shibby along. Only if it’s no bother of course.”

Bayley laughed. “She’s always welcome here…” Bayley trailed off as she looked around guiltily. “And...I think she would really help Sasha.” The admission, while true, made Bayley’s heart hurt. It was an admission that she wasn’t quite enough on her own to help Sasha.

“I’m sure she’ll love to see her aunt Sasha,” Becky said quietly as the gravity of the situation hit her again. It never stopped honestly. “And, uh… I don’t know. Maybe if she was ok wit’ it. You could take a night fer yerself. I’m sure Emma’s been annoyin’ you by now. But if Sash was ok with it, we could sort of just hang out ya know… While yer out.” Becky had never felt more unsure of her own words until now. “I’m sure you’ve been runnin’ yerself into the ground wit’ all this. Let me help you out a little… Please. ”

Bayley passed a hand over her eyes. Now that Becky said it she realized just how profoundly true it was. Yet even this fed back into her guilt, she was working so hard and seemingly accomplishing nothing. “Yeah, she really has. OK, let's play it by ear but if it works out I will absolutely take you up on that offer, Becks.”

Becky couldn’t help but feel a little happy at her own insight. Normally it was always Bayley who could read her like a book, but after years of friendship, Becky had her moments. “Alright. I’ll call ya tomorrow and we can fix out the other details.” Her eyes roved out in the dark and she slowly put the Jeep back into drive. “But I should probably start drivin’ home now. Wanna bet how long Charlie will give me the stink eye in the mornin’ fer comin’ home so late?” 

Bayley laughed again, god it felt good. “Tell her you have a doctor’s note from me. OK, good night, Becks.”

“Night Bay… Oh… Thanks, fer answerin’.” Becky said with utter sincerity. 

“I always will, you’re stuck with me, Lynch,” Bayley said softly but with a warm smile on her face. Something more like the one she used to wear.

  
  


**Bayley:**

It was Bayley’s habit to stay up and wake up late. Left to her own devices she probably would have chosen to sleep between the hours of 4 AM and Noon. She’d had to modify this due to the realities of her job, but it was still common for her to be awake well after two in the morning. Tonight she was sitting in her office on her computer. To anyone who didn’t know her, she would have appeared to be hard at work.

“Stupid Stegosaurus stay in your damn enclosure!” she growled at her computer as she glared at the screen. 

She had become engrossed in her game over two hours before and was completely unaware of the time. Gaming had always been one of Bayley’s go-to relaxation techniques but it had taken on a new importance recently. With all the turmoil in her life, Bayley desperately needed things that helped her forget about the rest of the world, and gaming had always done that.

“Seriously?! Spend two million on a T-Rex and it breaks out immediately-” Bayley began to grouse when, to her surprise, her phone buzzed. Bayley was so taken aback that she just stared at the device vibrating its way along the surface of her desk for two more rings. Eventually, she remembered herself and picked it up. She didn’t often get calls at this time of night, but when she saw the name on the screen her curiosity began to crowd out her surprise.

“Well good evening, Babs…” she said as she paused her game and leaned back in her chair “...Are you still awake or just waking up?” Bayley asked this mostly as a joke but it was entirely possible that Alexa Bliss was just beginning her day at five in the morning.

“I am in Dublin,” Alexa answered as though Bayley had asked. Then she seemed to remember herself, “Good evening as well. I assume you are still awake?”

“I am…” Bayley answered distractedly. Alexa was one of the best PR people in the entire world, and as such she often had occasion to travel overseas. But the fact that she was calling Bayley at this time of night, and that she mentioned she was in Dublin…

“So how is Mr. Balor?” Bayley asked casually.

“Well, he asked me to come to see him in preparation for a...coming event,” Alexa answered in her professional voice. It was a tone that was perfectly pleasant and yet conveyed nothing about what she might be thinking or feeling. As a journalist, Bayley found it very frustrating. But Alexa had called her so she obviously wanted something.

“And yet...you called me. What can I do for Babs?” Bayley asked.

“Mr. Balor asked me to come to Dublin because he wished to hire me. I was already in London attending to another client so I was able to meet him in person. I am, unfortunately, already bespoke but I did promise that I would do him a small favor in furtherance of his goals.”

Bayley’s mind automatically noted everything that was said and extracted the salient points. “And that something involves the media, or at least the MMA end of the sports media pool.”

“Indeed…” Alexa said in a very ‘Alexa’ expression and tone. “I assume you have some of your people following the developments around the BFA’s new TV deal?”

Bayley didn’t, she was handling that story personally. Shane McMahon had inked his new TV deal with the Disney family of networks, elbowing UFC off them in the process, and with this new revenue secured he was gearing up for a confrontation with his team owners. McMahon seemed to be envisioning a fighting league with much more control vested in the commissioner and with a much more centralized structure.

“We have. $850 million for fifty BFA events on the networks, one hundred million more than UFC got. White is fuming and McMahon feels like he has all the cards,” Bayley summarized.

“Indeed. Mr. McMahon doesn’t intend to waste this moment, however. He and his people have been busily putting together a large plan for his vision for the future of the BFA. He intends to unveil it at the owner's meetings in three months. At that time he intends to use his powers as commissioner to press for an immediate answer. He is counting on shock and intimidation to get him enough votes to ram his program through.”

Bayley whistled. It was a ballsy move, to say the least. She mentally ran down the list of the BFA team owners and weighed up who would likely go along and who would dissent. “He doesn’t have the votes at the moment,” she said, voicing her conclusion.

“No, he doesn’t,” Alexa agreed.

“And the big three won’t stand for it, definitely not Charlotte and Teddy,” Bayley added as she thought about the problem further. The ‘big three’ in the context of BFA were the fighting teams of Flair Combat Sports, Celtic Combat Sports, and Thuggin and Buggin owned by Charlotte Flair, Mr. Balor, and Teddy Long respectively.

“Ah, there you must allow me to correct you…” Alexa chimed in “...Charlotte and Mr. Long will undoubtedly rebel. Mr. Balor is...undecided.”

Bayley’s eyes widened as she digested this and its implications. “And most of the European clubs will go whichever way he does so…” Bayley trailed off as she realized where her logic was taking her.

“Yes…” Alexa confirmed “...It is quite likely that Mr. Balor will hold the balance in his hands when it comes to the vote. McMahon will likely be able to coerce a certain amount of smaller teams into line. The medium-sized teams will likely split into camps unless they coalesce around Charlotte and Mr. Long.”

“Charlotte will...not be happy when she learns about this…” Bayley observed in a truly monumental understatement. Charlotte was one of her best friends but Bayley was aware as anyone that the Flair temper hadn’t skipped her generation.

“IF she finds out,” Alexa said significantly.

“Go on…”

“Mr. McMahon is, of course, keeping the exact details of his plan very secret. To preserve the full effect of its surprise.”

“Naturally.”

“And even if I were to have...come into a complete version thanks to a source that Mr. Balor has in the BFA offices it would be unethical of me to share it with his competition,” Alexa continued.

Bayley made a note of the fact that Balor had a source within BFA before answering. “Of course, and I don’t think any of your friends would ask you to.”

There was a pause that Bayley assumed meant that Alexa was smiling. “If, however, the pre-eminent combat sports show in the world were to come by a leaked copy of the plan. No doubt through her own connections. Then no one could be held to blame except for BFA’s own lack of leak security.”

“Exactly,” Bayley said with a grin spreading on her face.

“Of course, this entire conversation is hypothetical…” Alexa said, retreating into her professional voice “...Now, I’m afraid that I must go, Miss-...err...Bayley. I hope we can talk more soon.”

“Definitely, Babs, next time you’re out on the west coast you’ll have to come by.”

“I will let you know when I am. Good night, Bayley. Tell Sasha that I am thinking of her.”

“Good night Alexa, love ya.”

“...Love you too.”

Bayley ended the call and waited in silence. She kept waiting until it buzzed again. Smiling, she opened the email she had just gotten from an anonymous source. It contained nothing more than a link to a file storage site. Following it, Bayley found a very large document posted there. She downloaded it quickly, she knew the site and thus knew that the document would vanish in a short time. 

Closing her long-forgotten game, Bayley opened the email on her laptop. With a brief look at the clock, she rolled her shoulders and began to read.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back again! Sorry for the long turn around on these chapters!
> 
> What did everyone think of this chapter? I guess it's good that the Horsewomen got a few good years before the start of Resolution because we're right back to raining problems down on them. If you had to pick, who do you think has the roughest road ahead? At least, unlike most of Perseverance, they aren't facing these problems alone. What do you guys think Charlotte will do not only about Toni about also the coming fight with Shane? is Becky making the right choice? Can Bayley balance her friendships with riding the waves of the biggest story in the industry? What will Sasha do now?
> 
> Thank you so much for being patient and reading this fic, I assure you it's one we take very seriously. Big things are in store! If you haven't already, please make sure to bookmark so you don't miss the next update! Kudos are always appreciated and of course your comments!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	5. Traveling a Little Deeper

**Bayley**

“ _...Welcome to the show my girl and one of the most kickass women here at ESPN, Bayley Martinez. She is the host of the MMAyley Report which airs five days a week here on ESPN at six eastern. Bayley, welcome back to Spain and Company how are you?”_

“I’m great…” Bayley said into her phone “...Always nice when I get to sit at the big kid’s table here at ESPN.”

“ _I’m pretty sure you are the one at the big kid’s table, I don’t have a daily TV show,”_ Sarah Spain, the host of the radio show that Bayley was calling into, answered. Spain was one of Bayley’s favorite people at the network and she always loved the chance to get on her show.

“Nah, I’m just the new girl,” she joked.

_“The new girl who dropped a bomb on the sports world today! For those who didn’t see the MMAyley report today, Bayley revealed the details of Brawl for All Commissioner Shane McMahon’s reform proposals.”_

“Apparently the BFA folks are calling it a ‘revolution’ and I have to say that is what it would be,” Bayley answered.

“ _I can’t think of a better word. Just to summarize a few of the major points from the two hundred plus page document. Under these proposals, the BFA is proposing a 60-30-10 split of the proceeds from the new TV deal between the organization, teams, and fighters respectively. The commissioner would gain much broader disciplinary powers over both teams and fighters. Fighter free agency would be structured along lines similar to the NFL, and finally, these reforms would be voted on and approved in the form of a binding agreement that would last ten years.”_

Hearing her friend spell things out like this really helped drive home just how ambitious that McMahon’s plans were. Bayley almost whistled. “Just to add something to your list, Sarah, on your third point there is even some language in the document that suggests something like a salary cap in free agency.”

“ _Well, why don’t we start with that third item on the list then? Do you think you could give a brief explanation for how free agency works in BFA?”_

“Oh, man…” Bayley laughed “...that is a big subject. But to summarize a very complicated subject the structure right now is very informal. BFA itself mostly just schedules the events and offers the prizes while the teams offer the fighters and training infrastructure. The BFA doesn’t actually have any control over who signs where and what those contracts are like.”

“ _So the shift to something like what we see in the NFL would be a seismic one?”_

“It would completely disrupt the way business is done now. Now, conventional wisdom would suggest that the team owners would be against this. But that is why the hint at something like a salary cap is so important. IF that were to be part of the plan, then you suddenly have a split group of owners. The smaller teams would become the equivalent of small-market teams in other sports, and what do we always hear is the big selling point around NFL free agency?”

“ _That it creates parity, doesn’t allow for super teams,”_ Spain answered.

“Exactly…” Bayley said “...And suddenly the smaller teams have the incentive they need to vote with the BFA. Sure it would mean accepting a small share of the TV money, but if it allows them to sign the Becky Lynch’s or the Adam Cole’s of the world then they will be rolling in direct revenue from their success.”

“ _So I assume that means that the larger teams will be against this?”_

“Of course. As an example, Thuggin and Buggin currently have around fifteen fighters under some kind of contract. And, full disclosure, one of them is my wife…”

_“Yes, Sasha Banks,”_ Sarah clarified to her audience. Bayley felt a small twinge of unease at the mention of her wife’s name. Not because of anything that Sasha had done, but because it reminded her of Sasha’s present situation.

“Yes, so around fifteen including Sasha. I believe the current number is actually thirteen. Among them, there are currently four BFA champions. We have Keith Lee in the Super-Heavyweight division, Chad Gable in the Cruiserweight division, Kairi Sane in the Strawweight, and Sasha in the Featherweight.” Bayley felt another twinge as she said these words. Sasha was CURRENTLY the Featherweight champion but she would have to be stripped of the title any day now. And what that would do to her…

“ _And you think that in a salary cap environment, the team wouldn’t be able to keep all of them?”_ Sarah’s question was enough to snap Bayley back to reality. Forcing herself to refocus Bayley counted to three before she answered.

“I have to assume not, it would seem that any meaningful salary cap would have to be set where no team could have that many premium contracts. And even if it did, it wouldn’t allow for the team to keep so many other fighters around. And I can tell you, based off conversations with Teddy Long, he sees it as absolutely essential to keep his developmental fighters around to ensure he has his next generation of fighters.”

“ _And I’m sure that other teams feel that way too,”_ Spain put in.

“Exactly, Thuggin and Buggin is one of what we call the ‘big three’ teams in BFA. The others being Flair Combat Sports and Celtic Combat Sports. Thuggin and Buggin may be the biggest but the others aren’t far behind and it’s unlikely that they will feel any better about the possibility of having to shed some of their fighters.”

“ _So you think that they will lead the opposition to Shane McMahon’s program?”_

“I think that Thuggin and Buggin will probably be in the vanguard…” Bayley said honestly “...CCS is generally the most ‘wait and see’ team of the tree. The real interesting question is how Flair Combat Sports will react.”

“ _Fortunately for us, you know someone who is friends with Charlotte Flair, the owner of Flair Combat Sports, don’t you?”_ Spain asked leadingly.

Bayley chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, it’s true that Charlotte and I are friends. But because of that she generally refuses to talk shop with me outside of a professional setting.”

“ _Sure, and that’s admirable. But you can give us a guess based on what you know about her.”_

Bayley bit her lip as she thought about this. Ordinarily, she would have been happy to oblige her friend on this question. And, indeed, few people could claim to know Charlotte better. If anyone could make an educated guess on what Charlotte Flair might do in a given situation, it was Bayley. But the situation wasn’t so simple now.

The brewing controversy between the BFA and its teams would, no doubt, lead to a very stressful time for Charlotte. More than stressful, it was likely that the situation would call for the deftest possible handling. These factors alone would have made Bayley reluctant to speculate on her friend’s potential actions. But there was still the looming specter of Bayley’s stupid mistake with the Toni Storm interview between them. Bayley believed Charlotte had forgiven her, but she couldn’t pretend that the past wasn’t a factor here.

Then again, it was a widely known fact that Bayley was friends with Charlotte, as Sarah had eluded to. She also had no doubt that Charlotte would at least hear about how this interview had gone. Bayley didn’t want to leave her friend thinking that she was feeling awkward or uncomfortable by giving a nothing answer here. Charlotte would expect Bayley to do her job like she always did. It was up to Bayley to balance that with everything else.

“I could, yeah…” Bayley said “...But I can’t really give all my good stuff away of my own show can I?” 

“ _Oh come on, Martinez! You gotta give me something!”_

“OK, OK…” Bayley said with a chuckle “...Based on my past experience I am confident in saying that Charlotte Flair will do what she thinks is best or her fighters. She’ll fight anyone she has to if she thinks they will do damage to her team.” It wasn’t a great answer, but it wasn’t the wrong one either. It sounded good, it was short enough that it would make a good sound bite, and it hadn’t really said anything people didn’t already know. 

She just hoped when Charlotte heard it, if she did, that she wouldn’t find anything to object to.

  
  


**Charlotte/Alexa:**

Alexa Bliss was sitting in her home office watching the dominant news item of the day. It wasn’t the announcement from the MMA world. 

“... _Announce my campaign for the office of President of the United States as the first candidate ever to run from the Aloha party! Before I continue my remarks I would also like to take this time to announce that the one and only Beyonce has consented to be my running mate!...”_

Alexa sighed as she looked away from the TV. That particular announcement had been made earlier this morning, she had first seen it while she was at the gym. Now, she was on the phone with the candidate.

“Again, Clex, I must politely decline,” she said apologetically but firmly.

“ _But why?!”_ the restaurant billionaire turned reality TV star turned presidential candidate asked petulantly.

“Because I have no experience with this sort of PR and do not have any interest in attempting to run a presidential campaign,” Alexa explained.

“ _I’ll pay you more than whoever else you are working for!”_

“It’s not a matter of money…” Alexa said truthfully “...I’m simply not at liberty to make a nine month committment at this point.” 

“ _Ugh! Please tell me you aren’t working for that bitch, Oprah! You know I can’t stand her!”_

Alexa sighed. “You know I can’t discuss my clients, Clex.” As she said this her phone buzzed. Looking down she saw she had another incoming call, one she had been expecting and dreading. “I’m afraid I need to take another call now,” she said.

“ _Will you at least give me some of your thoughts on my campaign?”_

Alexa’s finger hovered over the switch calls button as she answered. “I think that the slogan ‘making hoes mad’ is perhaps less than presidential.” With that she tapped the button on her phone, ending her call with Clex and answering the incoming one.

“Mrs. Flair, hello…” she said in her professional voice.

Charlotte rolled her eyebrows. “Come on Alexa. How many times have I told you to just call me Charlotte.” 

Alexa frowned as she kicked herself inwardly. It seemed that despite constant reminders from both Bayley and Charlotte she still had a great deal to learn. “I’m sorry, Charlotte, how are you?”

It was always funny for Charlotte to think back on the woman Alexa used to be and how much they’d all changed since then. “Could be doing better. I assume you’re at least somewhat aware of what’s happening in my neck of the woods.”

Alexa could guess. “Unless I’m very much mistaken, you’ve been digesting Bayley’s report?”

“It was an interesting read to say the least and I’m figuring out the best way to deal with it going forward.” Charlotte explained quickly. “But I have a feeling this is going to be a hell of a mess no matter what happens.”

“To put it mildly…” Alexa allowed “...I am impressed you read all two hundred pages already.”

“I may have gotten some bullet points.” Charlotte let that sit for a second before asking, “But I could always use another hand on deck with all this fallout.”

Alexa sighed inwardly, she’d figured this would come up. Known it would, in fact, as far back as when she had first met with Teddy Long. Still, that didn’t make it any easier in the moment. “What do you mean?” she asked, hoping to buy herself time.

That was the first sign for Charlotte that something was up. She’d assumed Alexa would jump at the prime opportunity to get paid and do what she did best. This whole thing was bound to be a PR nightmare for all involved. “You know as well as I do this has the potential to be a huge battle in the press with everyone scrambling. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t ask for your help after everything you’ve done.”

“I see…” Alexa said awkwardly. This was strange because delivering bad news was a large part of her job. Yet, now she was hesitating. “That...won’t be possible, I’m afraid.”

Charlotte’s eyebrows narrowed. “Oh… You’ve already taken a job. May I ask for who?”

Alexa cleared her throat as she stewed. Long hadn’t instructed her not to reveal their relationship, as many clients did. But it was still a potentially awkward thing to do in her field. And that wasn’t even touching on the personal fallout for her. Still, she did strive to be honest in her personal life so she relented. “I was hired by Mr. Long almost a year ago, my employment to begin if and when this exact situation arose…”

“Huh… Well I see. I understand. I suppose I’ll have to look elsewhere.” Charlotte’s business side was rationally trying to move forward but her personal side was conflicted. “Glad to see you’re staying busy.”

“I am sorry, Charlotte…” Alexa said limply. She knew it was just business, but this situation did not feel good for her at all.

“No need Alexa.” Charlotte responded quickly. She completely understood it from a business perspective. Alexa was just doing what anyone would have in her situation. You took the call when it came. That didn’t stop her from feeling a little bitter. Not just at losing Alexa, but also losing her to Teddy. It just felt odd. “You're damn good at your job and in high demand. I shouldn’t have assumed you weren’t busy already.”

Alexa paused for several moments as she collected herself. “Are you upset with me?”

“No, no… I’m just… Disappointed.” Charlotte said before realizing how that sounded. “Not with you necessarily. Just- I don’t know. Everything.”

“I...think I understand…” Alexa said quietly. After the pause had stretched for several awkward moments she cleared her throat again. “I can recommend several excellent PR managers if you would like?” she offered in some small gesture of mollification.

“That won’t be necessary Alexa. I’m sure we’ll find a way to survive without you. I’m sorry to cut this short, but my afternoon just became a little busier. I hope you have a good day.” Charlotte said diplomatically as she could. 

Charlotte sighed as she placed her phone down for a moment and walked over to get a bottle of water from her office’s mini fridge. This work session was already starting off on a bad note. Hopefully she could get a better handle on the landscape and avoid being blindsided again. 

She’d call Finn later and see what was happening over there, but for now she knew that a call to Teddy was entirely necessary. Charlotte couldn’t afford to be out of the loop with anything right now. Playing her cards as close to her vest as possible until she knew the right course of action. 

After a brief water break to calm herself from the bad news of Alexa’s employment Charlotte steeled herself for business. Putting in Teddy’s number and making the call as she sat down in her chair. Waiting as the phone rang until a familiar voice picked up. “Hello Mr. Long. In light of recent news I believe we have some things to discuss.”

“ _Mrs. Flair, it’s always a privilege to hear from you. What can I do for you, playa?”_

“Well, I can only assume you’ve heard the rundown of what McMahon is planning. I was just looking to get your opinion on it.” Charlotte started off lightly. 

Teddy chuckled good naturedly. “ _There is a great deal in that proposal that Mrs. Martinez released, which part are you referring to? Or are you asking what I think of the whole thing?”_

“I’m asking what you see happening in the next few months. We can both see this proposal isn’t going to go through without a fight. I’d like to know which way the wind is blowing, so I can avoid getting covered in shit.” Charlotte answered, quick as a whip. Knowing that Teddy preferred a more direct approach. 

_“To put it plainly, Mrs. Flair, I’m not worried.”_

Charlotte raised an eyebrow of curiosity. “I take it you have some sort of plan. Care to share? This proposal has the potential to affect our business for years to come.”

“ _Nothing so formal, but I think good old Shane is getting a little big for his britches. If he wants to try and force Thuggin and Buggin into line, he can go ahead and try. I’m happy to take my ball to UFC or somewhere else, my ball and my global entertainment brand. As your wife once memorably said, come at me if you like but I’m ready for the war.”_

Charlotte took in the information dispassionately. She didn’t have room for emotion right now. She needed to figure out the best way to keep her gym functioning in the middle of its own civil war of sorts. “You know how much I respect you Teddy… Shane’s not going to be happy if you press him on this, but I doubt he wants to lose you either. I want to talk to him. See how gung-ho he is about this proposal. Don’t burn too many bridges in the meantime.”

“ _I always prefer to settle things amicably, of course. But Shane made this adversarial, now he needs to deal with the consequences. What are you planning to do?”_

“What I always do. Adapt and evolve. Shane isn’t the only voice involved here.” Charlotte let her words hang. “Things are going to get messy.” 

“ _Which is all the more reason why I’m drawing my line in the sand now. If Shane thinks he can bully me because of Sasha’s accident then he’s going to get a nasty surprise…”_

Charlotte smiled despite the situation. She sometimes forgot how close Sasha and Teddy were and how long they’d been tied together. “I’m looking at some contingencies. Should this whole thing start to blow up in our faces… I’m glad Sasha’s got someone like you looking after everything while she can’t.”

“ _Have you spoken with Mr. Balor?”_

“I was planning on calling him soon. At a more reasonable time for him locally. We only spoke for a brief moment yesterday and he didn’t tip much of his hand. Although, if I know him, he’s probably going to be going on the offensive very soon. He made it clear to me he wouldn’t be allowing Shane to control the narrative in the media.”

“ _I intend to call him soon as well, perhaps we can arrange a conference call. I’ve already put out feelers and found that most of the other European teams are waiting on him. But...it occurs to me you might have a better source of intelligence than you realize.”_

Charlotte quirked an eyebrow. “What would that be?”

“ _If my memory serves, your wife is rather close with Mr. Balor’s son. Perhaps she could help you divine his intentions? And, of course, if you were to pass that on I would be very grateful.”_

She’d expected as much. “I’d rather not have to involve her right now. Not unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“ _Very well…”_ Teddy said in a very specific tone “... _In the meantime I suggest we speak with Mr. Balor soon.”_

“Agreed. I’ll set up a time with him and send you the info.”

“ _I would appreciate that. Give me regards to Bobby.”_

“Of course. Good day Teddy.” Charlotte said as her mind began to churn with ideas. 

  
  
  


**Becky/Bayley**

The extra weight on her shoulders did nothing to diminish the smile on Becky’s face as she walked through the airport with Siobhan perched on her shoulders. “Yer getting a lil’ old fer this. Don’t know if my shoulders can take it much longer.”

“I like being tall.”

  
Becky snorted at the direct answer you could only get from a child. Taking care to set her rolling suitcase on the escalator where it wouldn’t tip over. “Talk to yer other mom about bein’ tall. Are you excited to see Auntie Bayley? She should be waitin’ for us down here.”

Siobhan subtly grabbed onto her mother a little tighter as they descended. Being tall was good, but heights weren’t something she loved. “Duh. Can we get some food after? I’m hungry.”

“Not if yer going to cop an attitude like that.”

“Mmmmm… I’m hungry.” The little one whined as she crossed her arms on top of Becky’s head and rested her chin on them. 

“Well if you want anythin’ then you’ll behave.” Becky scolded lightly. She knew it wasn’t entirely SIobhan’s fault. Boston to Los Angeles was a long flight, and even with all the modern amenities afforded to them, it was still a long time to be cooped up for a child her age. 

“I will… Can we get In-N-Out?” She added sheepishly.

“We’ll see. Remember, we’re guests here. We’ll see what Bayley was thinking.” Becky compromised as they reached the bottom of the escalator and her scanning eyes came across the familiar friendly face. Quickly weaving them through the light traffic of human beings till she carefully put Siobhan back on the ground and wrapped her arms around Bayley automatically as the customary hug of welcome came. “Nice ta see ya lass. Always is.”

Bayley squeezed Becky back, relishing the feeling. It had been too long since she’d seen her friend. And, if she was honest, since she’d gotten a real hug. But she knew she couldn’t afford to be standing there for very long. Even if no one recognized her personally, it was a miracle that no one had recognized Becky yet. So, flagging down one of the passing passenger carts, she helped Siobhan get her bag onto the back and then let the little girl sit between her and Becky.

“ _Hola pequeño jefe ¿Cómo estás? ¿Fue divertido el viaje en avión?”_ Bayley asked.

_“Tengo hambre._ Can we get In-N-Out Auntie Bayley? Pleassssssse.”

Becky immediately rolled her eyes. Secondhand embarrassment at how her daughter was acting swirling inside. She was always a little extra self conscious about how people perceived her parenting, especially when Charlotte wasn’t around. Like there was extra pressure for everything to be perfect. “What did I tell you Shivvy?” Exasperation clear in her voice. 

Bayley sensed her friend’s discomfort, but she had spent enough time around Becky and Siobhan that she knew how to react. “ _Siohbhan...¿Estás escuchando a tu mamá?”_ she asked.

Siobhan had the decency to look down at her lap. “ _Lo siento._ Flight was alright I guess…”

Bayley looked over Siobhan’s head at Becky. “Have you been practicing your Spanish?”

“Me?” Becky said innocently as she pointed to herself with a confused look. 

Bayley laughed. “I don’t mind stopping on the way home if you don’t.”

Becky’s response was a bit halted as she noticed a few cell phones pointed in their direction as they passed. Unconsciously wrapping her arm around Siobhan a little tighter and angling her shoulders to block the view best she could. At least the passenger cart was moving fast enough that no one could really try and stop them. “Uhh sure. That sounds good.”

Bayley could see her friend becoming more and more uncomfortable. Sadly, this was part of the price fighters of Becky’s caliber paid. So she silently urged the driver to hurry while trying to distract her friend. “How is Charlotte?”

As the tiny hum of the electric cart increased Becky cast a brief appreciative smile towards her friend but didn’t bother bringing further attention to it. Just trying to appreciate how Bayley understood what was going through her mind, even better than she did sometimes. Not that long ago she would have relished in the extra attention, but nowadays she was contemplating ditching her bright orange hair for something a bit less blatantly difficult to miss. “Busy. Feels like she’s always workin’ on somethin’. Good news is she finally is takin’ my advice and gettin’ a real assistant.”

Bayley recalled being drafted into this particular debate more than once. She smiled at the memory of how unhelpful she’d actually been to Becky, Charlotte simply pointing out that Bayley didn’t have an assistant either. “Did she finally settle on someone that she isn’t planning to fire in a week?”

“Well considerin’ the circumstances it’d make things real weird if she fired this one.” Becky replied. 

Bayley was familiar with how her friend told stories so she just raised an eyebrow in response.

Becky grinned when she noticed Bayley’s reaction. It always felt fun to dangle information in front of the journalist and watch her perk up, wheels in her head spinning so quickly Becky wanted to laugh. “Charlie is finally bringin’ in a male fighter to the gym. He’s got some great setups for flyin’ knees. I t’ink his name was Gargano. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really listenin’ when she was talkin’ that night.”

“Johnnny Gargano? Guy who had a cup of coffee in the UFC?” Bayley suggested.

“Sounds right.” Becky said as she silently handed off her phone to Siobhan who’d been busy tapping her knee. “You can play fer five minutes ok?” She said before returning her attention to Bayley. “I guess his wife fights on some of the local amatuer cards out here. Blah, blah, blah, they talk t’ings over. This girl agrees to be Charlie’s assistant when she ain’t trainin’ and everyone lives happily ever after.”

Bayley nodded but stuck the tip of her finger in her mouth. A moment later she took it out and stuck it in Siobhan’s ear. “I’m sorry, is it hard to concentrate when I do that, little Boss?”

The little pout on Siobhan’s lips had Becky holding back laughter. Eyes narrowing seriously on the screen as she tried to brush Bayley’s finger away without taking her attention from the game. “Don’t do that! You’re going to get me killed!” 

Bayley ruffled the girl’s hair once before turning back to Becky. “How is everyone else around the gym? Did Bobby ever take that meeting with the supplement brand? And what about Rue? She looked great in that last fight.”

“He’s bein’ difficult. You know him. Stubborn as hell about protecting his integrity. Rue and Liv are actually out in Italy right now. Their anniversary was in the middle of Ruby’s trainin’ camp so I wanted to give ‘em somethin’ nice. But they should be back in Boston today I think.” Becky explained. Thankfully not noticing the continued stares of random civilians as Bayley’s distraction worked like a charm. Though she purposefully avoided mentioning Toni and the fallout of their little blow up. 

“And how are the sessions you’re leading at the community center? Still going well?” Bayley asked before reaching out to cover Siobhan’s ears and adding quickly, “Run into Carmella again?”

Becky tensed at the name. “Uhh… Nope…” Looking away guiltily. “It’s all good.”

Bayley felt Siobhan turning to look curiously up at her so removed her hands and spoke as though she were continuing a statement. “...And that’s why I think Little Boss deserves her own pony.”

“Haha.” Becky jumped in quickly. “Auntie Bayley has funny jokes right Shiv? Funny jokes that are in no way true.” Giving the other woman a brief glare.

Bayley looked down at Siobhan and shrugged theatrically. “I tried, kiddo. So are you going to be the one to explain Clex why we went to In-and-Out and not one of her restaurants?”

“I don’t plan on tellin’ her if you don’t? Besides, I can always blame it on this one.” Becky said while ruffling Siobhan’s hair a little. “Finish up sweetie. We’ll be in the car soon.”

  
  


**Charlotte**

“Hey Charlotte. You have a minute?” 

  
Charlotte looked up from the mound of work on her desk and smiled at one of her oldest friends. “Course Ruby. I could use a little bit of a break from work anyway.”

“This is actually work related.” Ruby said and Charlotte just began to notice the nerves that were boiling just below the surface.

Never one to turn away her friend, Charlotte waved her in and stood up from behind her desk so it wouldn’t feel so business like. “My doors always open.”

“I know…” Ruby said as she wrung her hands. “You know I love you. You’ve been a great friend for years and I owe your whole family a lot… I’ll always be your friend.”

“Ruby…” Charlotte said softly as she began to connect the dots. “Nothing will change that.”

  
The other woman took a deep breath and steadied herself. “I’m leaving. After Becky and Toni fight. I’m not trying to pull a Toni on you here. I just feel like I’m stagnating… Like I’m just treading water and watching things around me moving forward.”

“You’re not-”

“But I am! I’ve won four fights in a row. Against top ten opponents. All of them tough as hell fights. I know the game… I know the rankings don’t mean shit when it comes to who gets a title shot. It’s always about who will draw the most on pay-per-view… But I guess I thought after putting in all the work and doing things the right way I’d get my chance.” Ruby composed herself. It wasn’t easy admitting this to Charlotte and the next part would be even harder considering. “I love Becky… But I have to be honest. I sort of hate her sometimes. I’ve been active. She hasn’t fought in years, comes back, and is just GIVEN a title shot? How does that make sense?” 

“Ruby I-”

“Let me finish… I don’t want to hate her. Fuck, I feel like shit for getting mad at her, but I can’t help it… I’m not getting younger. You never know when it’s going to be the last time you step in that cage. I like fighting, getting better every day. It’s what allowed me to stay on track in life and not fall off, but at a certain point the money matters to me. I need to make money, and the way to make money in this business goes through that championship. And as long as Becky’s not officially retired I feel like I’m going to keep getting cut off at the ankles and overlooked.”  
  


Charlotte shouldn’t have felt as stunned as she did. She’d been around the sport long enough to know how it goes. At any given time there could be up to five fighters or more who are good enough to become a champion but only two get a chance to prove it at a time. This wasn’t baseball or any of the more traditional sports. Even if you were lucky enough to avoid injuries and crazy enough to accept every fight you could maybe fight six or so times a year; for most normal fighters four fights would be considered a very busy year. Time could pass a fighter by quickly and all it takes is one loss to lose all the ground you built to even be considered for a title opportunity. “I get it… I’m not happy I’ll be losing you and I’m assuming Liv too… But I want you to be happy. And if you think you can be happier somewhere else I’m not going to stop you.”

Ruby looked relieved but she still held a forlorn smile. “I wish that was here… Maybe it will be in a few years. But right now-”

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me Ruby.” Charlotte said as she turned back to her computer and turned it off. “I’ve worked enough today. And I think a drink is required to celebrate… I’m proud of you. And I’d be a shitty friend to be anything but.”

  
  


**Becky/Bayley**

“I said NO RUNNING!” Becky yelled from the comfortable lounge chair she’d been watching from. Giving Siobhan what must have been at least the third warning about running on the wet cement around the pool as she raced to climb up the slide and reenter the water with a splash. “One more time and no more pool.” A stern motherly look on her features till the tiny feet slowed their energetic pace. “I swear, she’s tryin’ ta raise my blood pressure on purpose. Only listens to me when it’s somethin’ she wants to do.”

Bayley was laying next to Becky on her own chair reading. But she took the time to look up from her book and raise an eyebrow. “Strange...I see Becky’s mouth moving but Charlotte’s words are coming out.”

“Oh haha. Yer so funny. Charlotte could get that girl to run backwards while eatin’ cake. I can barely get her to eat some stupid carrots.” Becky huffed and tried to relax while always being painfully aware that any moment could turn bad. Memories of a scraped knee and what seemed like hours of crying that ended with Charlotte giving it a kiss. All that crying and whining that never stopped coming to an abrupt end with just a little touch. 

Bayley studied her friend for a few seconds before she turned back to her book. “If it helps, she has definitely told Sasha and I that you are the fun mom.”

Becky smiled a bit and tried to close her eyes for a moment. Succeeding only for a quick second before Siobhan’s excited scream as she slid down brought her back. “I’ll take it… By the way, I can make myself free tomorrow if you want. Fight should finally be announced now that I signed the contract.”

“I’ll be at work, but I’m sure Sasha would appreciate the company. I can call Layla and give her the day off,” Bayley said.

Becky did her best to keep her face neutral. It wasn’t that she disliked being around Sasha. It just felt like ever since Meng’s funeral, the other woman had been avoiding her. But in all honesty she couldn’t even be sure if that was the truth, or if she’d been doing the avoiding. She just didn’t know what to say, or how to act and being around her could feel exhausting. Which only served to make her feel guilty that Bayley must deal with these feelings and much more. She didn’t get to feel overwhelmed when there was so little for her to complain about in comparison. “Sounds like a plan ta me.” 

Bayley peered over her book again and gave Becky a searching look for a few long moments. “Excuse me, Little Boss?” she said, raising her voice to catch Siobhan’s attention.

The little girl looked over from where she’d been climbing out of the pool and preparing for another trip up the slide. “Yes, _tia?”_

“If you go inside and then through the door with the pokeball on it, you’ll find two 3D gaming pads. If you give me a few minutes I’ll come kick your butt at Arizona Sunshine.”

Siobhan snorted. “You’ll try.” Walking off dramatically with a flair that could have only come from her adulation of Sasha. 

Bayley smiled after her before she reached over and gave Becky a punch in the arm. “You know you can just talk to Sasha like you always have? In fact, she wants nothing more than for people to start treating her normally again.”

“I know that.” Becky hissed back as she rubbed her arm. “And ow! Fuck you... I guess I jus’ thought I’d be more used to it by now, ya know?”

“How could you be?” Bayley asked.

“Don’ make me question my own stupidity. I think what I’m tryin’ ta say is I don’t know how yer doin’ this every day.” Becky sat up straighter and reached over to rest her hand on top of Bayley’s. “It’s weird. People think I’m tough just because I fight fer a livin’. But yer so much tougher than I am Bay. I’ll always be here for you… And I’ll try my best ta treat Sasha normal as can be. Tell Layla to enjoy her day off.”

Bayley sighed and closed her book. “You know, people keep telling me that I’m doing so well but the nasty secret is that I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m just trying to improvise things as they come up.”

“It’s not exactly somethin’ ya plan for.” Becky went silent as she tried to think of what to say. “But if you ever need someone to help you figure it out, I can always tell you what you shouldn’t do. Got a lot of experience in that.” She joked darkly with a little grin. 

Bayley laughed. “That you do. You can get a headstart now, Sasha should be awake soon. If you want to go up and see her I know she’d love it.”

“You want me to go knock on a potentially still sleeping Sasha’s door?” Becky gave Bayley a critical side eye. “Can I at least know what I did fer ya to try killin’ me?”

Bayley rolled her eyes. “You once woke her up by setting off a string of black cats in our bungalow in Cancun, and that was when she could run and fight. You can handle this.”

“Alright, but if I die tell people I went down fightin’ a bunch of tigers or somethin’ cool like that.” Becky advised as she stood up and stretched the tight muscles around her knee. 

Bayley eyed her friend again. “How is the old hinge?”

Becky smirked at the familiar words. “Good enough. Might have ta bug Liv a little more durin’ trainin’ but it’s more than enough. Only need ta stand on it a minute or two anyways. I’ve got a nice reservation after the fight if ya feel up fer it too.” 

“Reservation?”

“Yeah. I got this really nice Mediterranean place to stay open later fer us. Once the post fight press conference and all that craps done, I’m always hungry as shit.” Becky answered flippantly. 

Bayley brightened. “Oh, did you and Charlotte pull the trigger on that little place on Ibiza?”

“I may be using this as an excuse to try and sway her. But she doesn’t like investin’ in restaurants. Too volatile. Barely let’s me ‘ave my coffee shop.” She muttered. 

Bayley shrugged. “How hard can it be to keep a tourist restaurant open on Ibiza?” Bayley asked. There was a brief pause and then she had to clamp a hand over her mouth as she began to giggle.

“Ask her. What’s so funny?” Becky asked. 

Bayley was working very hard not to completely lose it now, but she took a few deep breaths in through her nose and managed to get herself in talking shape again. “It’s just...it’s so funny. When we first met, you were one step removed from a halfway house and I occasionally took work with DoorDash to make ends meet. And now we’re talking about buying properties in Europe.”

“It was a lot of work to make sure people didn’t recognize me on runs.” Becky chuckled as she began to understand the way Bayley was looking at it from. “Life can be funny.”

Bayley smiled and squeezed Becky’s arm before she stood. “It really can be. Now, I need to go blast zombies under the desert sun with your daughter. You know where Sasha’s room is.”

“Just be sure to have a body bag ready with some ice. Just wanna be prepared.” Becky called as she made her way across the ground floor towards Sasha’s room and raised her hand to gently knock on the wood. 

**Sasha/Becky**

These days, there really wasn’t any time Sasha wasn’t in pain save for when she was sleeping. Which probably explained why she spent so much time in bed. But today was different, and she told herself that she had to rise to the occasion. 

As much as she sometimes hated Layla, Sasha could already feel some tiny improvement from their work together. For example, she could now (usually) make the transition from her bed to her wheelchair without any life splitting agony. Today the transition had merely been agonizing. The tortuous journey to her bathroom had almost been a relief. 

The problem with living a life constantly dominated by pain is that every minor victory was followed by another avalanche of agony. So the journey to the bathroom had been followed by the arduous process of her ablutions. Or that was what Bayley called them. For Sasha, she just hated that even the act of shitting caused her pain. 

So it was almost two hours after opening her eyes that Sasha was finally pulling on her t-shirt. She hadn’t really been paying attention and thus didn’t notice that it was an old Becky t-shirt from her ‘Lass Kicker’ days. Becky had given it to her as a gag several years before. Sasha was just wheeling herself out of the closet when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

Assuming it was Layla for her daily torture session, Sasha sighed and rolled slowly past the door without opening it. This was, of course, an extraordinarily petty thing to do. But Sasha felt so powerless these days that she had to assert herself where she could. So she didn’t say anything at the second knock either. There was a long enough pause then that Sasha wondered if Layla had gone away to do something else. But then the third knock came.

Sasha sighed again. Bayley wouldn’t like it if she blew Layla off so she relented. “”It’s open!” she shouted as she turned her chair toward the room’s large windows which gave a stunning view of the ocean.

The door opened wide and Becky strode in like she lived here. Taking a look around the room before she saw Sasha silhouetted by the endless blue ocean stretching as far as the eye could see. Deciding to take Bayley’s advice and just dive right. “You know, ya coulda just answered on the first knock. It’s rude to keep a lady waitin’. How you got Bayley with those manners I’ll never know.”

Sasha had known that Becky and Siobhan would be staying with them, so it wasn’t truly a surprise to hear the other woman’s voice. But maybe it was how lonely and isolated that she had been feeling for so long that made Sasha twist around in her chair. As if she needed her eyes to double check the work of her ears. Unfortunately this movement made her wince horribly and turned her intended greeting into a kind of soft grunt of pain.

Becky initially was quick to rush over but caught herself and let her hands hide in her pockets. An air of casualness that was conveniently covering the nervous ticks her fingers made. “You know that chair of yours rotates, right? Or did you an’ Bayley get into some kinky shit recently she hasn’t mentioned to me?”

Sasha tried, by god she did. And she did manage to force some kind of smile onto her face. But she knew that Becky would see right through it to the pain underneath. This didn’t mean that Sasha wanted to discuss it however. “How was your flight?” she asked, mostly to indicate she didn’t want to talk about her physical condition.

The redhead made her way further into the room and raised an eyebrow at Sasha’s poor attempt at a smile but made no other mention of it. “It took off and landed without eruptin’ into a ball o’ flames… So not too bad.”

“I would have sent you the plane,” Sasha said.

“It’s nothin’. Besides, I don’ want her gettin’ too used to all the glitz and glamour.” Becky chuckled. “First class is good enough. Damn, younger me never would have thought I’d be sayin’ that.”

Sasha managed to chuckle. “If you don’t want her spoiled you should probably keep her away from Bayley.”

“You try keepin’ her away. It’s impossible.” Becky let herself lean against the wall and she looked back out the window Sasha had been staring out. “Not a bad view. Jus’ need a bunch of clouds, some rain and I’d feel right at home.”

Sasha cleared her throat and began the laborious process of turning herself to face her friend. “It should be great, if you saw the property tax bill on this place you’d punch someone.”

“Knew there was a reason we stayed in Boston… You good?” Becky asked simply. Trying her best to act like everything was somewhat normal and giving Sasha an easy out if she didn’t want to talk. 

Sasha closed her eyes for a moment. “Come on, Lynch. I hear it from everybody else and I don’t need it from you. Of course I’m not good.”

Becky opened her mouth to respond but gave her head a shake and walked over to Sasha’s bed before plopping herself down on the soft mattress with a quick jump. “Do you remember when I called you last year really late at night, and you threatened to take my head off fer wakin’ you up and nearly wakin’ Bayley?”

Sasha turned back to the ocean and sagged a little. “I feel like that’s happened more than once.”

“Yer probably right.” Becky admitted. Staring wistfully out at the ocean as she sat up a bit straighter. “You didn’t have to pick up… I think both our wives would agree we have been a bit emotionally stunted.” She chuckled lowly and turned her gaze from the ocean to a friend she’d have never thought possible years ago. “...I miss you. I’m probably goin’ to fuck up and say the wrong thing… A lot if we’re bein’ honest. But I want ta be here for ya… I know you ‘ave Bayley, but there’s a lot o’ darker things I don’t like bringin’ to Charlie without talkin’ ‘em out. Ya know? Things she might have a harder time understandin’.” Trailing off as she scratched the back of her neck and waited for an answer to her odd way of asking a fairly simple question. 

Sasha kept staring out the window as she processed what Lynch had said. She appreciated the words, and she had to admit that she loved Becky in a way she would never have thought possible when they first met. Did that mean she was fully ready to engage with the other woman on the dark shit? She didn’t know.

“I know she’d be mad at me for saying it, but she’s too good for the world. I don’t want her to get lost in the fucked up mess in my head…” she finally muttered.

Becky did something she rarely did and really contemplated the words before they left her mouth. “I’m not tryin’ to say I understand. Fer fucks sake. If someone told me that after my knee... I’d be likely ta smack the taste outta their mouth… I’ve never really told Charlotte everythin’ I did in my past. Everything that happened… She has her own problems, but she doesn’t need ta know.” The Irish woman took a deep shuddering breath as she continued. “When I was eleven I lied about having an appendicitis at school. Stupid thing ta lie about I know, but another kid had surgery and everyone treated him nice… They had cake, ice cream and a big party when he came back… I just wanted someone to care like that fer just a bit. Just a couple days. Then this one bitch who’d always hated me called me out. Said I was lyin’ and wanted me to show the scar… I made up some bullshit story about why I couldn’t that day… So I went home that night, stole a knife from the kitchen and made a scar to show her…” Becky smiled as she closed her eyes. “All because I was jealous of some kid whose name I don’t even remember…”

Sasha supposed she should be shocked, or even honored that Becky had chosen to share. But somehow all she felt was resignation. Of course the world would be so cruel that something like that would happen to a child. “At least your girl will never have to grow up like we did.”

“No. She won’t… Listen, if you want me to leave you alone, jus’ let me know. Otherwise I’m sure there’s a little girl who’d love to see you get out of this cave.” Becky stood up and moved back across the room. “And I probably wouldn’t mind it either.”

Sasha closed her eyes again and forced herself to take a few deep breaths. If she was honest, seeing her god daughter was one of the things she most dreaded. Not because of anything the little girl had done. Sasha loved Siobhan just like she was her own daughter. But because she couldn’t bare the thought of scaring her.

“What is she doing now?” Sasha asked. More to buy herself time than anything.

“Playin’ some video game wit’ Bayley.” Becky answered. “I hope she’s losin’. She can be insufferable when she’s winnin’ all the time.”

Sasha thought for several moments and then nodded once. “Can you help me? I need to change.”

Becky recognized the small concession and was determined to act right. Every time she tried to say the right thing it ended up being wrong. So maybe she should say the first thing on her mind like she used to and not care if it was right or not. It was worth a shot. “Alright. But you’ll owe me fer the surgery to fix my eyes after I gouge ‘em out.”

Sasha made a face. “Shut up, I don’t mean completely. I have something I need to do.”

“Thank god. So… What do you need from me?” Becky asked as the tumble of knots in her stomach finally felt like it was unraveling. 

Fifteen minutes later, Sasha was sitting in her wheelchair once more. Becky had the handles and was pushing her out through her bedroom doors. For the first time in months, Sasha looked like she once had. Her hair was brushed and she was wearing her boss coat, rings, and sunglasses.

“Thanks for the help,” she said to Becky.

“Course.” Becky said as she tried to remember her way through the house. “If I run you into a wall though, it wasn’t my fault. Freakin’ glare off those things always used to annoy me at our pressers.” She grumbled good naturedly, gesturing at the not at all gaudy amount of gold and jewels. 

“If I remember right, you have your own set,” Sasha pointed out.

Becky huffed as they turned a corner. “Difference is, mine looks good… And Charlotte might like when I wear it… Without much else.”

“I’m just going to let you work through why that might be a bad thing,” Sasha snorted. This felt so normal that, despite her pain, she was feeling happier than she had in a very long time.

“And I’m goin’ to choose to not think about it too hard as long as I’m gettin’ some.” Becky stated like she’d somehow won that point. 

“How is Boston doing?” Sasha asked after a brief pause.

“Busy as a farmer when the sun rises. I... I know it’s got somethin’ to do with all this Shane shit, but she’s so busy I don’t really get into the details. Besides, last thing she wants to do after talkin’ shop all day is go over it again wit’ me. I know the fightin’ part. You, Bayley and her were always smarter ‘bout the business stuff.” Becky admitted as they rounded the final corner to the door where Siobhan and Bayley were sort of half paying attention as she tried to remember the way through this house. 

Sasha had actually meant Becky’s daughter (one of Siobhan’s many nicknames was ‘Boston’) but she didn’t press the issue. All her attention had turned to her god daughter who still hadn’t noticed the newcomers. Siobhan and Bayley were sitting on the couch playing one of Bayley’s seemingly endless collections of classic video games. Sasha noted, with a small smile, that Siobhan’s legs were kicking happily while Bayley’s were bouncing.

“They have access to a purpose built 3D motion gaming room, and they’re up here playing Mario Party 64…” Sasha said in quiet bemusement.

“It’s a classic fer a reason.” Becky responded in kind. Neither of the room’s inhabitants having seen them yet. Too engrossed in attempting to stretch Mario’s face into some nightmarish morph. “And one of the few games I can actually beat them at on occasion.”

Sasha watched silently for a few long moments, not wanting to interrupt. Every time she saw Bayley with Siobhan she knew that she would make the perfect mom. But even as this thought brought a smile to her face she felt a tug at her heart. What sort of mother would she be now? 

She shoved this angrily down. Now was not the time.

“Ready when you are,” she muttered to Becky.

Becky pushed them a little further into the room before declaring their arrival. “Room fer a couple more?”

It took hardly a moment for an old plastic controller to clatter on the round. Siobhan up on her feet and completely disconnected from the game she’d been playing. “Aunt Sasha!” She cried and moved like a bullet across the room before remembering what her mother had told her and slowing down. 

“Hey there, LB!” Sasha said, putting every bit of energy she had into keeping her voice steady and cheerful. “Have you been beating your aunt Bayley?”

“Only most of the time.” The child said with happiness shining through her eyes at seeing Sasha looking like her normal self. Stopping short of her wheelchair and leaning over the side to press her cheek against Sasha’s chest while wrapping her arm around the seated woman’s midsection gently. 

“Hey kid…” Sasha said happily as she did her best to squeeze the little girl. It was hard for Sasha to describe just how much her god daughter meant to her. Even this little contact was enough for her to feel some of her worries melting away. “What have you been doing?”

“I was using the pool earlier, and now I’ve been making Bayley mad stealing stars from her.” She rattled off in excitement at being around Sasha without being in a hospital. “Oh yeah, and mom was showin’ me a new kick for her fight. Like this.” Siobhan said and quickly demonstrated the technique by kicking the outside of Becky’s calf hard enough to earn a cry of reproach from her mother. That was quickly ignored as her attention was focused on the woman she’d idolized for a significant chunk of her life. She gained no small amount of satisfaction from having the nickname Little Boss. 

Sasha beamed down at her god daughter at this rambunctious display. It was this precocious energy that made Sasha often see a bit of herself in the little girl. But then she noticed a significant look coming from Bayley and she remembered that she was supposed to be the adult in the room. “Hey, remember? Don’t kick your mom unless you’re training.” She saw that the girl was a bit crestfallen at this response so she quickly added, “but it was a great kick.”

Siobhan quickly perked back up as Becky rolled her eyes. “Sure was.” She said with sarcasm that was clear to the adults in the room. 

“Have you been watching the videos I sent you? Even your mom doesn’t know savate!” Sasha asked the little girl.

“I was watching one of them on the plane.” She replied. Happy to just be having a conversation with Sasha and basically ignoring her mother and Bayley. 

Sasha took hold of the wheels of her chair and rolled a bit closer before taking her boss glasses off and putting them on the little girl. “Come on, LB, we’ll go to the gym and you can show me a fouetté kick.”

Siobhan adjusted the glasses on her nose and walked- or more accurately skipped next to Sasha with a smile on her face, untainted by experience and time. A tiny smile stretching Becky’s lips as she watched the interaction with pride and a host of other emotions she had a hard time processing. 

“So...what is a fouetté kick?” Bayley asked Becky as she came to stand beside her.

Becky watched as her daughter walked along a Sasha that seemed much closer to the woman she knew than she had just fifteen minutes ago. “A fancy word for hitting someone really hard.”

Bayley bit her lip to keep from grinning too much. “So, you don’t know then?”

Once Siobhan was out of earshot Becky responded, “Fuck off.”

This really did make Bayley giggle, something she hadn’t been doing enough of lately. She waited until Siobhan and Sasha had vanished into the gym before she looped an arm through Becky’s. “Want some tea?”

“Real tea? Or whatever spillin’ the tea means?”

Bayley made a theatrical scowl. “It’s Lipton, Becks. I can put lemon in it if you like.”

“I suppose it’ll have to do.” Becky said. Matching Bayley’s scowl with a nonplussed look of her own. Following after the other woman as she led them towards the kitchen. 

After Bayley finished making two cups of green tea, she slid one mug toward Becky and raised an eyebrow. “It’s better than that first cup of coffee at least.”

“I don’t know.” Becky took a sip as the warm mug brought a comforting feeling to her hands. “Coffee might have tasted like shit, but it might have also been the best cup I’ve ever had.” 

“You are such a big old softie…” Bayley teased as she sipped her brew. “So, Boston seems to be thriving. DId I hear her counting in mandarin?”

“That’s all Charlotte. Thinks it’ll pay off fer her to know at least some basics.” Becky explained. “Which reminds me, we’ve got a sit down planned fer when I get back. Figurin’ out where we’re sending Lil’ Boss ta school.”

Bayley nodded. “You have the money, you sending her to one of those fancy pants places?”

“That’s what I’d want.” Becky said into her tea as she took another sip and sat down on one of the cushy wrought iron bar stools at the large granite island. 

“But…?” Bayley prompted.

The mug settled onto the granite with a solid clang and Becky sighed. Staring into the tea contemplatively, as if it held answers at the bottom. “Apparently Charlie doesn’t see it that way.”

Bayley gave Becky a particular look. “Are you really going to make me drag this out of you one question at a time? You know I’ll get to what’s bugging you eventually.”

Becky stared up at the ceiling and spun herself around on the stool as she spoke. “Fine... She thinks public school will be better for her and I don’t… Gosh I’m such a hypocrite. I told Sasha earlier I don’t want to spoil her too much… But I do. I really fuckin’ do. I jus’ want her to have a good life. Gettin’ punched has got me a lot, but I’m just lucky. Shivvy deserves a better life, ya know?” Not even waiting for an answer as she continued to spin. “But Ric sent Charlie to private school… Apparently she didn’t like it… Fuck. Am I crazy here Bay? You can be honest.”

Bayley considered her answer carefully. “You both kind of are, but I assume it’s just part of being a parent. It’s your job to want the best for her, and no one can tell you where the line between that and spoiling is. You need to figure that out. On the other hand Charlotte should know that just because she had a bad experience that doesn’t mean everybody will. But, for what it’s worth, I’ve read that if the child is intelligent, and I really think Siobhan is, then it’s less important where they go to school. It’s much more important that their parents foster the right environment at home. And you’re already doing that.”

Becky allowed the momentum of the stool to slowly fade till it stopped in place and finally looked back down at her friend. A rare moment of vulnerability around one of only three people she’d let herself be vulnerable around. “You mean it?”

“I do,” Bayley said solemnly. She held her friend’s gaze for a few moments before she made the addition that she knew Becky needed to hear. “You aren’t going to be your parents, Becks.”

Becky tapped her finger against the mug in her hands and blinked away the faint moisture that had threatened to start getting worse. “Thanks… I’m still sorry about bothering you so late that one night. I’m a bit o’ a mess these last couple weeks.” She joked lightly as she smiled. Trying to show her gratitude while also edging away from that particular road. “Yer a good friend.”

“I really am,” Bayley joked. She turned and opened a cabinet in search of some sabor de soledad. As she rummaged she asked another question in a would be casual voice. “So, have you run into Carmella again?”

Becky should have known Bayley wasn’t going to let her go with how little she’d given at the airport. Posture straightening up in the stool as she chose her words carefully. “Honestly, I sort of avoided her at first. Might have called in sick once… or twice and had one of the others run the group.” She didn’t have to look at Bayley to know she would be shooting her a disapproving look. “I know. I know. It was childish… Before we came here I went back.”

Bayley emerged from the cupboard and tore open a bag of snacks. “And?” she asked as she offered it to Becky.

Becky took a deep breath and knew she was nervous when she actually took a handful of _Sabor de soledad_ chips and stuffed them in her mouth for an extra couple seconds of procrastination. Chewing as slowly as she could without making it obvious. “We’re havin’ lunch when I get back…” Closing her eyes and bracing for Bayley to tell her she was a moron. 

“She must have done a lot of growing up,” Bayley said.

“Is- Is that it?” Becky asked tentatively. “Yer not gonna tell me I’m an idiot? 

Bayley gave her friend a look. “You should know better than anyone that I believe in second chances and forgiveness.” She raised an eyebrow at Becky as she shook the bag at her.

“Would tellin’ you I haven’t mentioned it to Charlie make you change yer mind?”

“No…” Bayley said “...But you should tell her.”

“I know.” Becky suddenly understood how Siobhan must feel when she or Charlie have to correct her. “I will. I just… don’t really know what I’m doin’. You know, I only said yes when Mella asked because I asked myself; What would Bayley do?” 

Bayley chuckled at this. “Well, thank you. And if it means anything, it’s exactly what I would have done in your situation.”

“It means I made the right decision. Now I jus’ have to call Charlie as soon as I can and hope she can’t kill me through a phone.”

Bayley patted Becky’s arm and put away her snacks. “If it helps, I’ll talk to her later. But for now, let’s go see what the two trouble makers are up to.”

  
  


**Bayley/Sasha**

“Are you ready?” Bayley asked in a voice that mixed trepidation and excitement.

Sasha did her best to smile. Bayley was far more sanguine about this call than she was. But nothing meant more to her than Bayley’s happiness so she was determined to try and play her part. Or, at least, the part she thought Bayley wanted her to. 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Sasha said with a small smile. It became a little more genuine as Bayley bent down and kissed her cheek.

“I love you,” Bayley told her, taking a moment to press her face against Sasha’s.

For her part, Sasha revelled in the contact for a few seconds. “I love you too,” she said, really meaning it. She knew that she had been distant with Bayley over the last few weeks, and she knew how it hurt her wife. Part of Sasha hated herself for doing this to Bayley, but she didn’t know how to stop. But none of this had done anything to diminish her true feelings for the amazing woman she was married to.

But, like all such moments recently, this one didn’t seem to last. Bayley bustled off to take care of something else and Sasha was left waiting in her chair. “Where are Becky and the Gremlin?” Sasha called after her.

“Becky took her to the gym with her,” Bayley called. Though Sasha knew that her wife hadn’t meant anything by this remark it still brought a tiny sting to her heart. The reminder that Becky could go to the gym, and it’s corollary that she could not, was still hard for her to deal with. But now wasn’t the time for that familiar brooding topic.

“OK, good to go,” Bayley said as she reappeared, putting an earring into place.

“It’s a zoom call, Bay, relax,” Sasha told her wife. All she got in response was a look before Bayley sat beside her. Hitting a few keys on the laptop in front of them opened a video window on the screen. Filling it was the image of the head and shoulders of Dr. Britt Baker, Sasha’s rehabilitation specialist. But not the Dr. Baker they were used to.

“Britt! What happened?!” Bayley exclaimed before she could stop herself. Sasha had to admit, the doctor didn’t look good. She had an obviously broken nose and a nasty shiner.

“A conspiracy by some of the people I kick box with,” Baker joked with an air laugh as she turned her head from side to side. 

“Are you alright?” Bayley asked.

“Oh, I’m fine. I’m healing and it’s a lesson learned on the importance of keeping my head in the game,” Baker said with a wave of her hand. Turning to Sasha, the doctor smiled her ‘professional’ smile. “I suppose I’ll have to ask you for help in the future.”

Sasha gave a perfunctory smile, but inside she was squirming. Even her doctor could fight now? But she, Sasha Banks, was stuck in a god damn chair? “Eyes open, head swiveling,” was what she finally said.

“Good advice…” Baker said. Sasha guessed the other woman had picked up on something of her feelings and so forced another smile onto her face. Bayley would want her to make an effort here.

“But, if you like, I’d be happy to give some pointers,” Sasha forced herself to add.

“Thank you, I may take you up on that. But for now, I think we should get to you,” Baker said with the same professional smile as before.

“She’s been putting in all the work, doctor,” Bayley jumped in.

“Yes, I have been reading the reports that Layla sends,” Baker said as she looked down at her desk for a few seconds. “I’m beyond impressed, Ms. Banks, there aren’t many people who could keep up the kind of rehab schedule you are managing.”

“Thank you,” Sasha said. A great tension growing in her gut.

“Still…” Baker said, looking back up at the camera.” “It’s important that you don’t overdo things. If you push it too much you could set yourself back.”

“Got it,” Sasha said.

After a few minutes of discussion on how the physical therapy sessions were going and what sort of things Sasha could do on her own, Baker nodded approvingly. “All in all, you are doing remarkably. You’re ahead of any sort of benchmarks for people in your position. If you’ll allow me I might write a paper on your someday.”

Sasha knew that this was meant as a compliment and she did her best to smile. But the thing she had been dying to ask was now clawing at her guts. She needed to know, but on the other hand she was terrified to ask. She shot a glance at Bayley who returned in a way that told Sasha her wife knew what she was thinking. But it also said that it wasn’t for Bayley to ask, Sasha had to do it.

“Doctor…” Sasha said, cutting off whatever Baker had been saying.

“Yes?” Baker asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Can...will…” Sasha swallowed hard and forced herself to take a breath. She was kicking herself internally at her inability to ask a simple question. She took another deep breath and felt Bayley squeeze her and reassuringly. It was this, more than anything, that helped Sasha speak the next words.

“Do you...in your opinion do you think there is any chance, any chance at all, that I’ll ever be able to fight again?” Sasha asked. More than anything in the world she wanted to look down at her lap but she forced herself to look Baker in the eye.

The doctor took her time answering, adjusting a paper on her desk for a few moments. Sasha got the impression this had less to do with any need to think of answer but more about how to deliver the one she already had. And it was that knowledge that made Sasha feel like the bottom had dropped out of her world.

“Doctor?” Bayley finally prompted after the silence had stretched for several seconds. Baker cleared her throat, adjusted her glasses, and looked Sasha directly in the eyes.

“Perhaps...you might be better off focusing on other goals…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So glad to get this one out for you all. Next chapter shouldn't be such a long wait. Plenty more planned and things are only going to keep picking up from here.


	6. The Fall of Queens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bayley: Good news for her gets submerged in bad news around her.
> 
> Sasha: Reintroduces herself to the world, but can the good vibes last?
> 
> Becky: Preparing for her fight with Toni Storm, is she confident? Or is it something else?
> 
> Charlotte: Amid professional difficulties, a personal storm is brewing

**Bayley/Sasha**

  
  


“Are you sure that you’re up for this?” Bayley asked for what was probably the eighth or ninth time that morning.

Sasha did her best to smile reassuringly. She knew that Bayley’s concern was born out of love, and at her core, she appreciated it. But on the surface level, it was more than a little irritating to have someone fussing over her. But, given all that Bayley had been doing for her over the last few months, she knew that she owed her wife this one and as many more opportunities to fuss as she cared for.

“Don’t worry so much,” Sasha said as she reached up from her wheelchair and squeezed Bayley’s arm. “I can handle sitting on a stage for a few minutes. I won’t even be standing.” 

Bayley didn’t look particularly mollified but she did at least nod. She followed this up by bending down and kissing Sasha on the cheek. “I love you,” she said. Despite her irritation, Sasha couldn’t help but melt a little at these words, like she always did. She had no idea what she had done to deserve this angel in her life but she did know that it wouldn’t be much of a life without her.

Sasha turned her face to kiss Bayley properly for a moment before resting her forehead against Bayley’s. She didn’t speak at first, just reveling in the contact. Her hand automatically reached out to rest on Bayley’s shoulder as she just tried to exist in this moment. Bayley didn’t break the contact either, and Sasha knew she wouldn’t. 

Unfortunately, like all good moments in her life recently, this one was yanked away from Sasha all too quickly. Her body decided that it had endured all it could of the awkward way she was twisted in her wheelchair and indicated this through a sudden blaze of pain in her back. Sasha had years of practice and suppressing the outward signs of pain in the cage, but she couldn’t help herself from tensing slightly. And to someone as attuned to her as Bayley was, this might as well have been a blinking sign. 

“Are you alright? Do you need me to grab your meds?” Bayley asked quickly as she pulled away, looking ready to spring into action. 

Sasha took a few moments to use some of the pain management techniques she had learned over the years. In truth, losing the moment of closeness with her wife was worse to her than the pain she was feeling. But she was still Sasha Banks, and she wasn’t about to let the pain win. So she forced her grimace into a weak grin.

“I’m fine, just a twinge. And no thanks on the meds, I want a clear head when I go out there,” she said, trying to provide some comfort to Bayley as some paltry recompense for all her wife’s sacrifices. Before Bayley could answer, the door to the room they were in opened.

“How’s the champ doing?” Teddy Long asked as he almost bounced into the room. 

For as long as Sasha had known Teddy, it could still amaze her just how jovial he usually was. Sure, he had his negative moments just like anyone, but they seemed to come few and far between. Teddy’s kind of ebullience was different from the sort that Bayley seemed to project so effortlessly into the world. His was more the gleaming bonhomie of a jovial host. Yet, there was a reason he was often called the most charming man in MMA, and even after all these years Sasha still wasn’t entirely immune to it.

“Not feeling much like a champ these days,” Sasha said. This was her pattern with Teddy, she tended to be the more cynical counterpart to his charm. But she ruined the effect of her words by allowing a tiny grin to sprout on her face.

“Nothing further from the truth, my dear, nothing further. You look strong enough to fight the rest of the team put together,” Teddy said.

Sasha’s grin became a bit fixed at this remark. She knew Teddy meant well by it. But the mention of Sasha fighting, on the heels of what she’d learned from Dr. Baker, was enough to put a large damper on her mood. She hadn’t yet shared her prognosis with Teddy, she knew she would have to at some point but she didn’t want to do it today of all days. Fortunately, she had some backup.

“Good morning, Teddy, how are things with the team?” Bayley asked, sliding smoothly into the conversation without any hint of covering for her wife.

“Ah, now, Mrs. Martinez, I can’t give you any kind of head start to my statement today,” Teddy said with a wag of his finger. But he softened this with one of his trademark wide smiles. “Even if you are my favorite reporter.” 

“Not here as a reporter today…” Bayley countered “...Just as a loving and supportive spouse. You know that when the biggest news in the MMA world involves my wife and the team she’s on that I have to recuse myself. So Maven is hosting the show today.”

“Your dedication to journalistic ethics never fails to impress me, ma’am,” Teddy said before turning to Sasha. “Are you sure you’re up to this, playa? I think I can handle this without your help, at least for today,” he said. It was typical of Teddy’s smoothness that he was able to deliver this in a way that suggested that Sasha was doing him a favor by here. They both knew that few people in the sports world were more adroit with the media than Teddy.

“You said all hands on deck, so I’m here,” Sasha said. She knew Teddy’s concern was genuine and that he would have been just as protective with any of his fighters. But she also knew she wasn’t just any fighter if she even was still a fighter. Over the last few years, Teddy had been letting her into more and more of the daily running of the Thuggin and Buggin brand. Just over a year ago she had actually bought a 25% share of the brand.

It had never been stated out loud, but Sasha had suspected for some time that Teddy would eventually leave Thuggin and Buggin to her. He had no children, and though he and his long-time girlfriend were quite happy together, neither seemed to have any desire to become a parent. At first, Sasha had been puzzled why she should have been singled out in this way. She had been a great fighter, one of the best, but she didn’t think this made her suited to running an empire like the T&B brand.

But, upon further reflection, she realized that it hadn’t been her fighting that had swayed Teddy. It had been Sasha’s willingness to throw herself into the process of building her personal brand. Any fighter could win a big payday, but many of them simply lived off that payday until the next fight. Sasha had always made sure to use most of her winnings as seed money for her various business ventures. Early on, she’d failed more often than she’d succeeded, but she had never stopped pushing.

What more could Teddy ask for in an heir?

“And I couldn’t be happier to have you here,” Teddy reassured her. Turning to Bayley he asked, “I assume you won’t be accompanying Sasha out onto the stage?”

Bayley shook her head. “It’s already hard enough for me to appear objective on air, that would probably make it impossible.”

Teddy nodded. “I figured as much.” He then turned to Sasha and asked, “you want one of the others to push you out there or you got this?” Sasha knew there was more to this question than met the eye. 

Sure, Teddy was trying to spare her feelings by not simply assuming that she couldn’t wheel herself. But this sort of press event was all about appearances, down the finest detail. Because of her prominence, Sasha had to either lead or end the line of fighters that would file out onto the stage. If she led the group but was moving so slowly that it made the others wait then it would project weakness. If she were to come out last and make the others wait it would do the same thing.

The last thing Sasha wanted to do was project weakness. Not just for Teddy, or even primarily for him. It was for her own sake that she wouldn’t allow it. “If Kairi is willing to do it then I’d choose her. It sends the right message, the mentee taking care of the mentor. Says that T&B is still a family and all that.”

Teddy’s smile was every bit that of a proud father. “I couldn’t have phrased it better myself. I guessed you might suggest this so I’ve already talked to Kairi and she’d be happy to help.” 

A few minutes later. Sasha was waiting with the other fighters backstage. She had exchanged greetings and hugs with those she knew well and nods with those she didn’t. Sitting back in her chair now, it still amazed her just how much T&B had grown since she’d arrived. At that point, she had been the fourth fighter signed. It was true that Teddy had been successful but it was certainly nothing like a mega team. Sasha had been the first woman signed by the team and could still remember the days when the women’s locker room had been new and all hers. Now the team had over twenty fighters, three full-time trainers, and over fifty support staff. It was sometimes joked that T&B was the Dallas Cowboys or New York Yankees of MMA. And this wasn’t a completely inaccurate comparison.

“How you feeling, girl?” Lacey Von Erich said as she came to stand beside Sasha and Kairi. Lacey was still relatively new to the team but having joined thanks in large part to Sasha’s recommendation, it was widely considered that she was Sasha’s protege as much as Kairi was. And, truthfully, Kairi didn’t require much in the way of mentoring any longer. She was already in line for a Strawweight title shot within the year.

“Ready to show the world that I’m not dead,” Sasha grunted. 

“Show them the Queen Bitch still has her throne?” Kairi asked. Her English had improved greatly since she had signed with T&B, so much so that she didn’t need her interpreter any longer. But she still had this undeniable quality of cuteness to her that made it almost funny when she swore.

Sasha kept a grin from her face as she nodded. “Something like that. You both ready?” When she got nods she turned to the opening that would take them onstage at the very moment that Teddy’s (and thus T&B’s) theme music hit.

“ _ You know, it’s the Mack militant!...” _

“Alright, playas! You know the drill, show of force today!” Teddy said to the fighters as he approached the opening. Squaring his shoulders and then began bouncing them in his signature ‘bugging Teddy’ dance as he stepped out onto the stage. 

The fighters did indeed know the drill. They’d all sat or stood at press conferences with Teddy before and it was always the same. Wait through the first verse of the song before the first one up (usually Sasha) joined him on stage and took a moment to pose. Previously, Sasha would hit her pose for the cameras today she wasn’t sure what she would do. Or was she?

The idea was risky, insanely so. It might lead to her collapsing on the stage and just think of the damage that could do. But if it paid off...the rewards might be huge. Sasha knew she only had a few moments to consider it. And in the end, there was really only one choice that she could make and still be secure that she was the same woman she had been.

“Here we go,” Kairi said into her ear as she began to wheel Sasha out onto the stage. In the split second, before they emerged into the daylight, Sasha put her ‘on-camera’ smile on her face. 

As soon as she was in front of the crowd, Sasha was hit by what felt like a wall of camera flashes. It was only thanks to years of practice that she was able to keep her smile firmly in place as Kairi wheeled her toward the edge of the stage. Sasha felt Kairi let go of the wheelchair to stand beside her and then hit her signature ‘telescope’ pose. Sasha knew she only had a few moments before the Japanese woman would be back at the handles again, it was now or never.

Sasha Banks stood up.

It wasn’t graceful, nor quick. Doing so sent infernos of pains blasting through her legs and lower back, so much that she could feel water brimming in her eyes. But she stood up. And more than that she took a tiny, lurching, half-step sideways with her right foot. The cameras were going off so fast now that it was like a second sun had risen over the gathered reporters. 

Now was the moment that everything could go so disastrously wrong. But Sasha was past the point where she could turn back. So, with pain intense enough to cause most people to blackout, she bent her knees slightly. It wasn’t as smooth as the old days and lacked some of the careless grace that it had once had. But, in the end, she still managed a credible imitation of her old Boss pose. She even managed to hold it for a second before she was forced to drop heavily into her chair once again, though she did her best to make it seem like less of an ordeal than it was.

Needless to say, the crowd ate it up. Cheers broke out from the casual onlookers and even a few of the media. Sasha knew that provided she didn’t burst into tears before she made it to her place, she had just scored a huge PR win. Not just for T&B but herself as well. And right now, she needed all the validations he could get.

  
As Kairi began to wheel her behind Teddy towards her place on stage. As she passed him, Teddy covered his mic with one hand twisted around so he could speak so only Sasha and Kairi could hear him. “That was real stupid playa…” he said before his face broke into a grin “...but that’s my girl!” Sasha smiled happily to herself, despite the pain, as she was wheeled into her place.

  
  


**Charlotte**

The pen tapping against her wooden desk never ceased its motion as the voice on the other side of the phone continued blathering on and on till Charlotte couldn’t take it anymore. “Listen, Mr… Dean was it? We aren’t looking for any trainers right now. Thanks for the inquiry but I have a meeting.” Cutting off the pleading coming through the line as her finger hit the end button. “Finally.”

Charlotte finally was able to hit the unmute button on her television where the Thuggin and Buggin press conference was playing. Just managing to catch the moment when Sasha was wheeled on stage. Separating business and personal was usually pretty easy but seeing the other woman being pushed by Kairi made that almost impossible. 

Despite the camera not focusing on anyone in particular, Charlotte’s eyes were glued to Sasha and she noticed the look of determination cross her eyes as her hands shifted on the handles of her wheelchair, preparing to aid her rising. “Please don’t hurt yourself,” Charlotte muttered to herself as she found her nerves spiking with every shaky, unassured movement till she could finally let out the breath she’d been holding when the clearly tired woman fell back to her seat. “She’s gonna hear from Bayley about that one.” She said out loud, unable to keep the proud smile off her face. 

On the screen, Teddy long cheered along with the others at Sasha’s triumphant display before clapping as the other fighters assembled on stage. It was an impressive display of finely tuned athletes including two champions, three if one counted Sasha. When the group had assembled, Teddy stepped back to the podium with a spotlight level grin. “ _ Good morning, LA.” _

He adjusted his glasses before holding his arms wide. “ _ I know you’re all excited to know why I called you here. So I’ll do away with the suspense. You’ve been asking for it for years as you’ve watched “T&B Unlimited” so we’re bringing you something new along with our partners at TBS. This fall, we will be bringing you “T&B Shield Maiden” which will focus on our phenomenally talented female fighters.” _

Charlotte chuckled as she watched Teddy’s announcement. She should have figured he’d do something like this. Their gym had long since become far more than just a gym. It was a brand that Sasha and Teddy had worked tirelessly to make strong. And this move would give them even more independence from Shane’s potential deal, both perceived and real. She had to give it to them, it was a smart move that made it difficult for them to be bullied, but Shane was nothing if not a massive asshole who’d still try anyways. 

Her thoughts scattered as the door to her office flew open and her wife came in, breathing heavily and covered in a sheen of sweat from head to toe. Sports bra and shorts that held another pound or so in her sweat should you try and ring them out despite their supposed moisture-wicking properties. “Did I miss it?” Becky got out breathlessly as she used a towel to wipe away the sweat, only for it to reappear almost immediately. 

“It’s still on. They’ve got another television show coming.” Charlotte informed the redhead as she walked further in and went to sit on the couch. “HEY! No! You are not sitting on the couch like that.”

  
“So what? I have to stand?”

“Unless you want to sleep on the couch tonight.” Charlotte countered. “Oh yeah, and Sasha stood up to do her pose.”

Becky blinked before the words processed. “Really? Damn. Stubborn bitch.” She said with pride hidden behind flippant sarcasm. 

After a few minutes during which the reporters asked the asked questions of the fighters who would be in the cast of both shows, Teddy stepped forward and once again took control of the press conference. “ _ Now, before I let these amazing athletes get back to training, I wanted to give you all a chance to ask any other questions you had.”  _ He said this last with a particular kind of grin that Charlotte recognized. 

It didn’t take long for the fish to take the bait. “ _ Mr. Long!...”  _ a reporter called “... _ Can you talk us through the thought process behind removing all mentions of Brawl For All from the T&B website?” _

Teddy put an expression that suggested he was shocked by the question.  _ “Well, now. You can’t read too much into something like that. I’m just trying to ensure that our website reflects our brand. Thuggin & Buggin is an international entity and we are open to partnerships with many different organizations.” _

Charlotte’s attention that had been focused on the screen suddenly was shattered when a loud grinding noise erupted from behind her. Her eyes shifting to the distraction to see her wife using the mini mixer she’d gifted last Christmas to mix her post-workout shake. Raising an eyebrow in frustration that went unnoticed till Becky finally looked her way. 

“What? Have somethin’ on my face?”

Charlotte sighed heavily. “Just drink your shake.”

“So wha’s this all about?” Becky gestured with her shake towards the screen before taking a big swig of the thick liquid. 

“Teddy is showing Shane he can’t push them around. Which, in turn, will probably make the vindictive ass try to push them around, and when he realizes he can’t, he’ll take it out on the gyms he can push around.” Charlotte succinctly summarized the likely series of unfortunate events. 

“Ya know, this is why I like to leave all the business shit to you. My first reaction is to go punch the lil’ bastard till he agrees to not be an ass. Probably not the best course o’ action.”

  
“But it would feel good,” Charlotte had to concede as she listened on to Teddy expertly baiting out questions in the order he wanted them. With each of his answers carefully thought out well in advance of hearing the question from a reporter’s mouth. 

“ _ Teddy, is it true that you recently had a lunch meeting with Dana White?” _

Teddy wagged his finger as though chastising a child though he softened this with a wide grin.  _ “Someone’s been following me I see, how is the family, by the way, Zack? To answer your question it was a dinner meeting and we had some excellent steaks. Aye Hunter may have been a great actor but he’s a better chef.” _

_ “What did you two discuss?” _

_ Oh, this and that. I obviously can’t say specifically. What I can tell you is that rumor that we were trying to buy the Raiders from the Davis family is untrue.” _

_ “Is Dana White trying to bring Thuggin & Buggin into UFC?” _ _  
  
_

_ “Well that would have been a little rude to discuss with Mr. Coker there, don’t you think? No, I’m sorry friends but there just isn’t any story here. A little verbiage on a website, a friendly dinner among peers, nothing more than that,”  _ Teddy said with every appearance of a man who sincerely didn’t understand his questioner’s interest.

Charlotte.”

“...”

  
“Charlotte…”

“...”

  
“Charlotte!” Becky said loudly.

“What?” Charlotte finally caved as she tried to listen to Teddy’s answers so she didn’t have to watch it back again to retain the information.

“What do you want to do fer dinner?”

“Dinner? I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.”

Becky groaned. “That’s code fer you’ll decide. But I want somethin’ tasty. Can’t we go out somewhere?”

“No. You’re supposed to be dieting anyways so you can make weight.” Charlotte pointed out obviously. 

Becky groaned even louder than before. “But I’m sick of borin’ chicken and veg. I deserve a cheat day anyway.”

“I don’t remember you complaining this much before.” Charlotte chided. “Now can you sit still for a few minutes? I promise if you can stay there quietly till then we’ll talk about doing something a little different, BUT still healthy for dinner.”

  
The fighter gave it a few seconds of thought. “And if I’m still hungry after dinner?”

  
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Good things come to those who wait… And let me watch without interrupting.” Just as she’d expected silence greeted her. Becky wasn’t the hardest person to manipulate if you were sleeping with her. Shifting her attention back to the screen where Teddy was finishing up his latest answer. 

“ _ Teddy, it’s been a few months since we lost Meng. How goes the search for a new lead trainer?” _

Maybe for the first time at the presser, Teddy’s face slipped, just a little. It wouldn’t have been apparent to anyone who wasn’t paying attention, but it was there. “ _ There won’t be anyone who can replace Meng, that would be impossible. And we’re being admirably served by the members of his team as of now. But, to your question, the search for the right person is still ongoing. I’ve been consulting with my advisors and we’ll certainly make an announcement when the time comes.” _

“ _ Sasha, will you be taking any questions today?” _

From where she sat on the stage, Sasha shot a glance over at Teddy who gave a quick nod and turned back to the media. As he did his face was all smiles once again. “ _ C’mon now, you don’t want to wear the poor woman out. And after she just gave y'all a special treat. No questions for Mrs. Banks today. And if that’s all you have from me I’ll close things out by reminding you that Thuggin & Buggin records' newest album is dropping this Friday. ‘Teddy Long Presents’ is available on any music streaming service you care to name. Thank you, have a good day.” _

With that he stepped back from the podium, waving to the crowd before making his way over to Sasha. He bent down to give the fighter a quick hug before personally taking the handles of her wheelchair and pushing her behind the curtain. For just a moment the short blonde figure of Alexa Bliss was visible holding the curtain open for the pair before she and they vanished from sight.

“Was that Lexi?” Becky asked as she finished off her shake. “Looked like her. Ain’t too many people that tiny.”

  
Charlotte chose to ignore the second half of the comment. “It was.” She answered as her mind went back to the last conversation she’d had with Alexa. In retrospect, she should have expected this and been ready to see it. It wasn’t like Alexa was her property. It just meant Teddy had been one step ahead of her. Maybe it was time to stop reacting and start forcing others to react to her. “Least we know she’s getting paid well.”

  
  


Charlotte knew Teddy and T&B’s announcement would send some ripples through the rest of the scene and if she wanted to see just how far they went, she’d have to look across the sea. Finding a number in her contacts that she didn’t need often and pressing the call button. Barely processing that if it was nearly seven in the evening for her, it meant that it’d be almost midnight in Ireland. By the time she thought of it the phone had already rung several times and Charlotte just committed to it and didn’t hang up. In for a penny, she thought right before the person on the other side answered. “Good evening Mr. Balor.”

“Good evening, Mrs. Flair. To what do I owe this very late pleasure?” Mr. Balor asked, not sounding at all like someone who had been sleeping or had been about to do so.

Charlotte cleared her throat and pressed forward. “I was hoping to pick your brain about Mr. Long’s latest press conference and what McMahon’s reaction will be given the circumstances.” l

For a few moments, the line was full of Mr. Balor’s chuckling. When he finally subsided, Charlotte could hear the sound of a match being struck. The man habitually had a cigar on his person so she assumed he was lighting it now. “Oh our Teddy, he doesn’t take well to bullying, does he?”

“No… He doesn’t.” Charlotte said, deliberately rolling into her next words carefully. “But he also doesn’t always realize that getting back at the bully can lead to them taking it out on others who can’t stand up for themselves.”

“Hmmm, true. But I’m having trouble thinking who you might be referring to. Surely you don’t think you’re without options here,” Balor countered.

Charlotte had to chuckle at that. “Not me. Not directly at least. I suppose I just have little faith in Shane’s ability to reign in his temper after being embarrassed like that.”

There was a pause during which Charlotte assumed that Balor was puffing on his cigar. “How long have we known each other, Charlotte?”

“Long enough that I can’t really remember how we first met.”

“Precisely…” Balor said. Somehow, though it was almost identical to his son’s, his Irish accent seemed to convey a totally different feeling. Whereas Finn Balor’s voice fairly sparkled with barely suppressed mirth and mischief, his father’s almost rumbled with a kind of noble authority. “So, I think we’ve earned the right to speak plainly with each other, yes?”

“I’d hope,” Charlotte answered honestly. 

“Frankly, you’re in more trouble than either Teddy or I.”

Charlotte blinked and frowned at her phone. “You’re probably right about that, but I’m not too worried.”

“Consider your position, Charlotte,” Balor said in a tone that hinted that he thought Charlotte was being cavalier. “Teddy may be the owner of an MMA team but that’s only one tiny aspect of what he is. If Shane plays too hard with him he can cleanly wash his hands and go somewhere else. Any short term loss he takes can easily be made up by his other interests. If Shane tries to push me around, I have the makings of my very own promotion here with the smaller teams in the UK and Europe. He can push a little but we have too much leverage for him to go too far.”

There was a short pause before he continued. “But what do you have? You’re a big team, it’s true. And I have personally been very pleased with how successful you’ve been recently. But are you diversified? Do you have a geographical advantage? Sure you could threaten to walk but the short-term hit would be much worse for you than us. And Shane knows that. If there is any fallout here I suspect it will rain down on you before it either of us.”

“I appreciate the concern, and you may be right, but there’s a lot of smaller gyms he can bother first. I plan to have some fail-safes in place by then. Regardless of if Shane gets his way or not.” Charlotte explained while keeping it vague. His words hit harder than she’d wanted to admit and while she and Becky did own some things outside of the gym, the majority of their money still came from it, and losing it would shift the stress onto their other business’ which she wasn't sure they could handle. 

“Punishing the smaller gyms won’t have the same effect, nor do they have a prominent fighter who has made a habit of publicly insulting him…” Balor pointed out. But after only a small pause for emphasis, he continued smoothly. “Regardless, I assume you called not just for my thoughts but because you had a plan?”

“I do. And one part of it involves you. I was hoping we could announce a joint camp after the Becky and Toni fight where we could invite some of the most promising young talents in our respective regions. Have the first out there and utilize your local talent, then come to Boston and use ours. Benefits both our gyms by making deeper connections with the regional fight scene and it wouldn’t be horrible to look like a more unified front.” Charlotte suggested. They’d had joint camps before but the focus on up and coming fighters who hadn’t made the big leagues yet was a great way to recruit new talent. 

“Interesting, interesting, and I note that you are pointedly NOT including T&B in these camps?” Balor asked shrewdly.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but I wanted to see if you’d agree first. As you might be able to tell with the timing of my call, it’s hard enough managing the time difference between two of us.”

“Hmmm, can you throw in a sweetener?”

“What would make you feel content?” Charlotte asked right back. 

“CCS would be happy to be part of your show of force and unity. However, as you know we’ve been eagerly courting the services of one Pete Dunne. As have you. If FCS were to...direct its efforts elsewhere, I’m sure we could make a camp happen sooner rather than later,” Balor said in a would-be casual tone.

Charlotte was sure her dentist would be more than upset with the way her teeth ground against each other as she mulled over the request. She knew as well as he did that the camp would get more attention the closer it was to Becky and Toni’s fight but obviously as he’d laid out, Balor was in a much better spot should Shane decide to get vindictive. “I’d ask if you realize what you’re asking for, but I know you do… Fine, but I do have one small request of my own. I think my pulling back is worth a little more than a camp which we both benefit from in the end.”

“I’m certainly willing to listen,” Mr. Balor said magnanimously.

“I may have an idea to… Let’s say alleviate Shane of the stress that comes from being commissioner. Should I happen to find someone willing to take his job and not be a relentless thundering dumbass I’d hope to have your support publicly when the time comes.” Charlotte explained as openly as she felt comfortable at this stage. 

“I’m afraid I’d need to know more before I could agree. I’d need to know whom I was supporting for a start. And then there would be details of whatever new deal was reached between them and the teams.”

“And you’ll know that when I know. As for now, I just want to see if you’d be open to the idea.”

“Present one that I can support and I will be.”

Charlotte knew Balor was stubborn. “Once I have everything figured out I will. Good night Mr. Balor.” As she hung up the phone she knew one thing. Figuring this out might get a bit difficult. 

  
  


**Bayley**

_ “Well, Ms. Martinez, I have to admit that I was wrong. When we first discussed putting a combat sports show in your time slot I thought it would be a disaster. But, after seeing these numbers, I’m happy to eat a big old plate of crow.” _

Bayley beamed silently and exchanged an excited look with AJ Styles before answering. “Thank you for saying that, Mr. Bischoff, it means a lot. And I understand your skepticism at the time, I was skeptical myself.”

“And I personally just want to thank you again for being willing to take the risk on the show, Eric,” AJ put in. He and Bayley were sitting around a conference table in the ESPN LA building. They were having their quarterly call with some of the network executives back in Bristol and it was going pretty damn well. That tended to happen when you either won or came top three in all of the network's key demographics during your time slot. 

_ “Well, it’s like I said, I haven’t ever been happier to be wrong. Really exceptional work from everyone on your team out there. Make sure and tell them I said so.” _

Bayley exchanged another look with AJ and raised her eyebrows. Styles nodded and made an encouraging gesture. There was an art to asking for things from the network, and it was always better to do so when your stock was high. For example, after you’d just had a terrific quarterly call.

“Mr. Bischoff, I wondered if I might make a request on behalf of the show,” she asked.

“ _ I’m listening,”  _ Bischoff said. His voice was perfectly pleasant but also entirely non-committal. Bayley supposed you couldn’t reach the level he had without being able to be both simultaneously. 

“As you’ve said, the show did some great work in this last book…” Bayley began “...And while I appreciate your faith in me, I couldn’t be doing any of it without my team.”

“ _ Of course.” _

“As such, I think they deserve a gesture of thanks from the network far more than I do. So I’d like to request a raise for my team. I think five percent would be more than fair, and with our increased ad revenue potential based on our latest numbers I believe it’s easily in the budget.”

When she finished speaking, Bayley turned to AJ again. He gave her a nod before chiming in himself. “I think this is a good idea, Eric. And I think you’ll agree they’ve more than earned it.” Bayley felt a rush of gratitude toward her boss and friend at these words. Having AJ’s voice behind her proposal would add some real weight.

There was a short pause from the conference room phone. Bayley knew that Bischoff would be running some calculations in his head. Among the factors being considered were not only the financials but the need to keep Bayley herself happy while also not appearing too easy. Bayley thought she had enough clout at the moment to get what she had asked for but it was never a sure thing.

“ _ I appreciate you asking me this, and the fact that you did tells me why you’re the right person to be leading a show, Ms. Martinez. And I agree with you that your recent numbers have greatly increased your show’s revenue potential. But potential isn’t realized earnings and five percent is a lot for an across the board raise.” _

Bayley’s heart sank but she knew better than to interrupt. And even if she hadn’t, AJ was giving her a subtle ‘wait for it’ signal. Not only would getting upset be self-defeating, but Bayley had also learned how executive types spoke during her time as a host. Bischoff might have said no to her request, but he had some sort of conciliatory gesture in mind.

“ _ However, you’re right, your team does deserve some kind of concrete gratitude from the network. So why don’t we start with this. I’ll see to it personally that your whole team gets a nice bonus in their next paychecks. As for the exact figure, I’ll work with AJ and your office producer. What was his name? Jordan?” _

“Yes, Jason Jordan,” Bayley said eagerly.

“ _ Yes, him. I can’t give you anything specific until we talk but I’m willing to promise that everyone will have at least an extra two or three hundred in their next check.” _

“Thank you, sir,” Bayley said. It wasn’t nearly enough, as far as she was concerned, but she knew Bischoff was making a gesture for her. 

_ “In addition, I’d be willing to revisit the possibility of a two or three percent raise if we see the kind of increase in revenue that we are hoping for.” _

At this, AJ reached across the table and muted the phone. “Take it, Bayley. He knows he’s offering less than you deserve at the moment. He’ll remember that and if I play it right he’ll end up feeling like he owes you.”

Bayley nodded and then unmuted the phone. “Almost there, Mr. Bischoff. But In the meantime, I’d like for all of my crew to get a $100 credit per month in the cafeteria here in the building.” As she finished speaking she gave AJ a mischievous grin as he rolled his eyes at her.

Bischoff laughed at this last request. “ _ You know what, I’ll make it $150. Will that do?” _

“I think they’ll survive,” Bayley answered happily.

“ _ Good, good, and I promise we will look back into the matter of a raise at a later date. In the meantime, I have some more good news for you.” _

Bayley looked at AJ quizzically but he waved for her to keep going. “More? Lucky me,” she said.

“ _ As you said earlier, your team has been phenomenal. Long term, this will likely mean an increase in your staff budget, short term I think I’m in a promoting mood. Is there anyone on your staff in particular that you think is ready for the next step in their career?” _

Bayley bit her lip. In her opinion, everyone on her staff could fit that description. But she knew that the kind of promotion that Bischoff was hinting at would likely mean her losing the lucky person. On the other hand, it would be selfish of Bayley to hold anyone else back for the sake of keeping her team together. For a moment, self-interest warred with her desire to see her people succeed, but the battle was short.

“If I had to pick just a few…” Bayley said “...Aliyah Al-Areebi is ready to sit behind an anchor desk if she wants to and Chad Gable could be an executive producer on any show on the network. Finally, Angelina Love is the best prompter writer and operator ESPN has. They all deserve a promotion.” She meant to stop talking there but she couldn’t resist adding, “Though I’d hate to lose any of them.”

“ _ I understand, and I’ll keep those names in mind. Was there anything else, you two?”  _ Bischoff asked.

“No sir, thank you very much for your time,” AJ said.

“ _ Alright then, AJ, I’ll be in touch. Ms. Martinez, keep up the good work.” _

“Thank you, sir,” Bayley said as she ended the call. 

“Well, that went well,” AJ said with a smile. 

“Bittersweet, AJ. It did go well but I just know I’m going to lose someone great now,” Bayley said with a sigh.

“That’s how the game works, Bay, just gotta be happy for them,” AJ said sagely.

“I am, now come on, let’s go break the good news to the team,” Bayley said as she stood with a wry grin. 

  
  


**Becky**

Becky sat perfectly still, fist extended in front of her, suspended in the air as the familiar leather of the glove slid over her taped skin. Settling over her knuckles and in the palm of her hand with the echo of history. Gone through this whole ritual so many times she barely noticed any of it. Only vaguely aware of whatever Boston sports commission representative watched the wrapping and gloves being put on like a hawk. Finally giving his ok once they were fully on and signing the wrapping, before wrapping another piece of bright blue tape around her wrist to signify completion of the ritual. 

It was odd, but familiar- being back for a fight. It had been a few years but Becky still remembered everything about the hours before the fight. The waiting. Being able to hear the reaction of the crowd to the fights before your own. She used to watch the fights on the television they provided in the locker room but found they’d usually only serve as a potential distraction. 

“You good?” 

Becky looked at the man next to her and found herself wishing it was someone else.

**2 Weeks Ago**

The gym was mostly quiet at this point of the night. Everyone else had long since gone home and Becky knew, she herself should probably be leaving soon. It was already eight at night and she had promised Charlotte and Siobhan to be home in time for a movie night. 

She slowly unwrapped her hands and dabbed a relatively dry towel against the sweat on her brow. A shower would be absolutely necessary before going home. 

“Didn’t expect to see you here this late.”

Becky rolled her eyes at the familiar voice. “Sorry. Ya bringin’ a date round the gym or somethin’?”

Bobby chuckled. “I’m not sure this would be the best place to bring one.”

“What?” Becky asked sarcastically. “Who was that last one… The vun vith the very t’ick Russian accent. I’m sure she’d be up for a roll on the mats.” The Russian accent she attempted bringing an easy peace to the air. 

“This is why I don’t talk about my love life with you.”

  
“Come on Bobby. I jus’ want you to be happy.”

“And I’m plenty happy doing what I’m doing.”

“I’m sure you are. So what brings you down here. I was jus’ doin’ some extra work. Ain’t in my twenties no more. Cuttin’ weight sucks a lot more now.”

“I’m sure it does,” Bobby said with a small smile as he sat down on the mat next to Becky. “I was actually hopin’ to find Toni down here.” Holding up his hands innocently as the redhead turned him a glare. “Don’t get mad at me… She’s been down here a lot. Late. Long after you and Charlotte go home usually.” A hint of worry entering his tone that he tried to hold back. “But I wanted to talk to you too.”

“Yer doin’ a good job of that right now.” Becky chided playfully. 

Bobby chose to ignore her words and continue on. “I won’t be cornering either of you for the fight. I think that’s the only fair way for me to do it.”

Becky could see how hard it was for Bobby to say this. Having two fighters at the same gym fighting one another wasn’t the most common thing but sometimes it had to happen. The normal approach for a coach was to do what Bobby was currently doing so she couldn’t say it wasn’t expected. But the thought of going out for her first fight in years without the trainer who’d been by her side during her career resurgence after the knee injury left her cold. Still, she forced a smile and patted one of Bobby’s enormous shoulders. “I get it. No hard feelin’s big guy.”

Bobby gave her a look she hated. It was one that said he knew there was more going on in her head but wasn’t going to say it. It never failed to make her feel like she was five years old. “Even if I’m not in your corner I can still wish you luck.” 

Becky’s smirk held some of her discomfort but ultimately she turned to wrap her arms around the man, best she could. “Don’ breathe a word ‘bout this. Can’t ‘ave people knowin’ I give hugs to more than my daughter. Specially Bayley.”

A chuckle was the first response before Bobby enveloped her much tinier frame in his own arms. “Haven’t you hugged Bayley before?”

“Stop bringin’ logic into this.” 

Bobby laughed quietly as they broke away from each other. A heavy silence falling over them as the huge man debated internally. Getting back to his feet and digging his hands into his pockets. “One last piece of advice… Don’t underestimate Toni.”

“Don’ worry yer shiny head. I’ve got this.” Becky said confidently before her expression changed and she rushed to pick up her things. “Shit! I’ll talk to ya later Bobby. ‘Ave a good night!” Rushing towards the locker room and throwing on the shower before she’d even finished stripping off the already wet workout gear.

**Present**

“You there Lynch?”

Becky shook herself out of the memory and gave an assured smile to her cornerman. “I’ve got this Johnny.” Satisfied when he gave her a nervous smile of his own and accepted her answer. 

Johnny Gargano and his wife were a new addition to the gym which made him perfectly unbiased as a cornerman. Something which was pretty difficult considering how long Toni had been at the gym. She wasn’t sure who exactly was cornering the other woman but that didn’t matter right now. 

Ever since she’d arrived at the arena there had been a camera shoved into her face so the production staff would have plenty of footage to pepper in through the broadcast as they built up to the main event. Having to walk through hallways with a camera three feet from your face as the person holding it walked backward wasn’t exactly Becky’s idea of fun but it was part of what you signed up for in professional sports. There was a time when she’d enjoyed it and even reveled in it, but those days were long gone. 

As the clock ticked away and the moment her name would be called drew closer Becky fell into her thoughts. The usual fire in her heart on fight day was notorious in its absence on this night. It’d come though. It had never failed her before. Talent only got you so far. When you’re fighting for championships every opponent is talented. Being able to dig deeper and stay calm under pressure. That’s what separated the real champions from the gatekeepers. 

It may have been a few years since her last fight but Becky knew she wasn’t over the hill yet. Not only that, but she knew Toni. And she knew without a doubt there wasn’t a chance she could lose. 

**Last Night**

“Do you come with an off button tonight?”

“Well, I’ve got one button you can touch. No guarantees it’s turnin’ me off though.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes and closed her laptop. Apparently, she wouldn’t be getting any work done in their bed tonight. She carefully placed the laptop on the side table and folded up her glasses on top of it. Trying doggedly to ignore the way her wife’s hands moved over the soles of her feet. Fingers digging into every stress point with practiced ease. “You really know how to get a girl in the mood.”

“Don’t I?” Becky asked confidently as she raised an eyebrow and let her fingers dance a tantalizing step up Charlotte’s calves. “And it’s not my fault anywho. Yer the one wit’ the gorgeous stems.”

Charlotte blinked incredulously. “Stems? What are you? Some lounge player from the ’50s?”

“Maybe. It worked to get you droppin’ that laptop.” Becky said triumphantly. The last thirty minutes of subtle caresses and completely pure intentioned massages of the blonde’s shoulders and feet had already made any work near impossible. “Now alls I need is a piano.”

“All you need is a good night's sleep.” Charlotte countered. 

  
“And that can come after I get between them thighs Charbear.” Becky said with a pleased grin on her face. 

“Oh my god. What is with you tonight? I don’t remember you being such a drooling horndog the night before a fight.” The blonde raised an eyebrow as Becky swung her legs over and straddled her lap. Full lips in a deep pout as Charlotte leaned back into the headboard. 

“Because we’re lyin’ in our bed tonight and not some hotel.”

“We never stay at just some hotel, Becky.”

“Don’t care how fancy it is.”

“I’m just saying-”

  
“CHARLIE!” Becky’s voice raised in mild irritation as she interrupted her wife and began to lean in. “Jus’ accept that I’m happier here… In our home and just fuck me already.”

“You could have just said that from the start.”

Becky sighed and closed her eyes. Her head falling forward till their foreheads rested against each other lightly. “Where would be the fun in that?”

Charlotte laughed good-heartedly and her hands found purchase on Becky’s ribs. Holding her in place as she leaned forward till there was barely any distance between their lips. “Well, it probably would have got me to do this a lot earlier.” Closing her eyes as she crossed the final millimeters that separated them.

“Mom? Ma?” 

The little bubble they’d been in was pierced by the soft voice of their child slightly muffled by the door between them. A hesitant tiny knock, of an equally tiny fist making it clear they hadn’t imagined it. 

Charlotte had to laugh again when she felt her wife groan deeply in disappointment. “One-second baby.” She called out loud enough for Siobhan to hear. “You should probably get off me.”

“Don’ wanna,” Becky said as she buried her face into her wife's neck. 

“Ok. Scar our child. You’ll be the one taking her to the psychiatrist though.”

Becky growled and the vibration of it made Charlotte wish their daughter’s timing could be better. “Fine. Your loss. It’ll be a lot harder for me to concentrate on you once I have my baby back. And the belt will be stayin’ in bed wit’ us. She’s been away from me fer too long.”

“That will not happen and if it does, you’ll have to explain to Shane why his little championship gold is currently residing at the bottom of the Atlantic.” Charlotte missed Becky’s weight once the redhead left her lap but duty calls. “Come in Siobhan.”

The door slowly opened and their daughter’s head poked inside. Her shoulder’s wrapped up in a Boss branded blanket that she’d loved ever since Sasha had given it to her years ago. “I had a bad dream…”

Any disappointment they felt vanished instantly and Becky quickly patted the bed in invitation. Their daughter didn’t want to ask outright and from the quick patter of her bare feet crossing the room whatever had woken her was scary. 

Siobhan scrambled her way up the bed. Grabbing handfuls of the comforter to pull herself up as her feet dug into the mattress for leverage. Placing herself right between her two moms and swiftly curling her way under the covers. Small hands finding purchase in Charlotte’s shirt and snuggling close. Only once she was settled did one of her hands blindly reach behind her till Becky’s shirt was caught in the little one’s grasp and insistently pulled on till the woman scooched over and Siobhan was neatly tucked in between her mothers. 

“Cozy?” Becky asked softly as any thoughts of a more risque night fled her mind. A small nod into Charlotte’s shoulder giving her an answer. 

  
Charlotte automatically began stroking Siobhan’s fair hair. “Do you want to tell us what the bad dream was about?” 

The child quietly soaked up the warmth and confidence from her parents, “You and mama got hurt like auntie Sasha and weren’t here no more.” Siobhan’s hands curled a little deeper as the thankfully fading memory of her dreams continued to stay in her mind's eye. 

Becky’s heart clenched in her chest. She’d been through a lot of pain but whenever Siobhan cried she’d swear it hurt worse than anything. Last summer Charlotte had to talk her down from going after the kid who’d pushed their daughter too hard when playing tag. She’d shield her from everything if that was possible. But she couldn’t do much against a dream. Just curling her arm around her wife and holding them nearer. 

“We’re right here sweetie. Just go back to sleep and we’ll keep away any more of those bad dreams.” Charlotte said as she dropped her lips to the top of her daughter’s head. 

“Yep. If I have to throw an armbar on yer bad dreams I will. You think I’d let anything hurt you or yer mom?”

“Promise?”

  
“Even better. I pinky promise.” Becky put an extra flair, pun intended, in her words. Linking her pinky with Siobhan’s much smaller one. “We’re going to be just fine.”

**Present**

“Five minutes.”

Becky’s head bounced up at Johnny’s voice. “Wh’?

“Five minutes till walk,” Gargano repeated as he closed the door behind himself. 

Becky nodded and pushed herself up off the folding chair. Moving her body around a bit to get the blood flowing again. The whole energy of the locker room was different without Lashley around. Normally Liv and Ruby would be up to something completely non-fight related and causing all sorts of noise. Those two could be a real riot when they wanted to but Becky quietly always appreciated the small diversion they’d offer from thinking about her opponent. 

There wasn’t time to lament the differences though. This was time for The Man to show everyone why everyone in her division should be thanking her for taking time off and giving them a chance at tasting gold. It was time to go take back what is rightfully hers. 

**Charlotte/Bayley**

Charlotte carefully made her way out to the cage-side with her daughter’s handheld firmly in her own. Considering Becky was the main event and wasn’t scheduled to fight till eleven at the earliest she’d tried to see if Siobhan would consider not coming and sleeping back home but the little one wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

Becky’s fight was next and you could feel the anticipation building within the arena. It always happened with big fights when titles were on the line, but it felt worse than normal for Charlotte and she hoped she was doing a good job of hiding her nerves. 

  
Looking down she couldn’t help but smile at her daughter. Eyes wide as she took in the arena and the massive screen showing her mother larger than life.

They strolled down to their assigned seats, just about fifty feet or so from the cage side, close enough to see and hear everything. Thankfully Charlotte spotted the familiar face next to three empty seats and for a moment the nerves lifted. They’d surely return once she saw her wife walk down to the ring but she’d deal with that when it came. 

“Bay!” She shouted loud enough to be heard over the constant music pumped into the arena when a fight wasn’t happening. Waving her arm in the air to capture the reporter’s attention as she helped Siobhan scoot through the rows of chairs till they arrived. 

Bayley, who had been engrossed in a text message thread with several network people, looked up when she thought she heard someone calling her name. It was hard when the music in the area was being played at ear hurting levels but eventually turned and found the source. Charlotte was approaching her, waving her hands, with Siobhan beside her. Setting her phone aside, Bayley stood to greet her.

“Hey, Char!” Bayley said as she waved back. Her conversation, serious as it had been, could wait. She tucked her phone away and waited with a smile on her face.

Charlotte couldn’t help returning the smile as she got closer. Usually, she’d much prefer watching fights from a nice room, with a comfy couch and a big television but as long as she was down here, having a friend made it tolerable. 

Just when they were a few chairs away Charlotte felt a pull on her pant leg and looked into her daughter’s eyes. “It’s loud.”

“That’s why I got you these,” Charlotte said as she pointed to the noise-reducing earmuffs that hung around Siobhan’s neck.

“But then I can’t hear anything.” Siobhan pouted.

“Too loud or too quiet. Make your choice honey.” Charlotte said as they finally reached their seats next to Bayley. “So, how’s your night been?” 

Deciding that this wasn’t the venue for a real answer to this question, Bayley opted for the Siobhan friendly answer. “Doing pretty well, the fights have been pretty good. Teddy is already talking up Shelton’s title chances around here somewhere.” Sitting back down she opened one of the games on her phone and tapped Siobhan’s shoulder. When the girl looked up, Bayley offered the device to her.

Siobhan beamed with a competitive gleam in her eyes as she took the phone. “I’ll have a new high score before my mom is in the cage.” Slipping the earmuffs over her ears finally as the screeching rock music continued to blare. 

Bayley sat down beside Siobhan and then patted the seat on her other side for Charlotte. By the time the blonde had settled in, she turned to find Bayley holding out a large tray of nachos out to her. “It’s fight night, the calories don’t count,” she said with a shrug as she wafted the pile of chips, cheese, peppers, sour cream, tomatoes, and beef under Charlotte’s nose.

Under normal circumstances, Charlotte would scoff at the option but this wasn’t exactly normal. Quickly digging into the deliciously unhealthy tray and shoving a handful into her mouth. Moaning softly at the taste and enjoying it enough that she could feel Bayley’s eyes watching her. “What? You said the calories don’t count.”

“They don’t…” Bayley said, fighting a smile. “Just wasn’t sure if you wanted us to give you and the nachos some time alone.”

Charlotte shot the reporter a dirty look as she chewed on the flavors for a little longer before swallowing. “I eat stuff like this once in a blue moon. Let me stress eat without the condescension." She joked as she took another, much smaller portion of the nachos. 

Bayley put on a mock-serious look. “Charlotte Marie Flair, as one of your best friends, you know I would never dream of forcing you to go without the condescension. I love you too much.”

“You have a funny way of showing it sometimes,” Charlotte responded. “Just remember this next time the shoe is on the other foot.” Chuckling as she quickly licked her fingers clean of the grease, unaware of the small commotion behind her as security attempted to stop a man from making his way further down toward the cage.

Bayley’s eye was caught by the scuffle. “What’s going on down there?”

Charlotte turned around, initial curiosity quickly shifting to mortification. “Shit. Can you keep an eye on her for a minute?” She asked Bayley but didn’t bother waiting for an answer before she was shouldering her way down the aisle towards the scuffle. 

It took longer than she wanted but Charlotte finally made it near the scuffle and the all too familiar blonde, almost white hair standing out atop his head. 

“David?”

The man immediately stopped his struggle against the security who’d been polite enough to not simply take him out of the arena against his will yet. 

For the first time Charlotte was thankful for the blaring music. It at least drew some attention away from them. The security giving her a look as she approached. 

“Ma’am please. We have to escort this man out since he doesn’t have a floor pass. Let us do our job.”

Charlotte knew they were just doing what they were paid to do and just asked, “Could I have a minute. I’m pretty sure I’m the reason he’s down here.”

The security guards shared a look. “We really shouldn’t.”   
  


“Please. One minute and he’ll leave quietly without any more incident. Right?” She directed at her estranged brother. 

Once he’d nodded his consent the head security guard gave it a moment of thought. “One minute.”

Charlotte quickly thanked the man and strode over to her family by blood. “What are you doing here?”

“I can’t just want to see my sister?” David asked but the glare from Charlotte had him scratching the back of his neck. “All I want is for you to listen to me.”

“And you thought ambushing me tonight would get me to listen?”

“I knew you’d be here.”

“I’m at the gym every day. Pretty common knowledge.” Charlotte was short with him but she couldn’t really help it. His sudden appearance after so long was suspicious to say the least considering the last time they’d spoken was when she paid his bail. 

“Listen, I just want another chance.” David said with earnestness. 

Charlotte couldn’t deal with this right now and against her better judgment, she agreed. “Fine. Come by the gym Monday at 9 am and we can talk.”

  
David nodded his agreement as the security moved in again. “Ma’am, it's been more than a minute. I’m sorry but-”

“Don’t worry man. I’m leaving quietly like she said.” David said with his hands held up innocently. Charlotte watched him as he retreated and shouted over his shoulder, “Good luck to your wifey Char. I got a hundred down on her tonight.”

Charlotte ignored the last comment and started to make her way back to her seat. Tonight wasn’t the night she wanted to be making any choices this big. Sliding back into her seat next to her still blissfully unaware, gaming daughter and her best friend who was giving her a look that made it clear she wouldn’t be getting away without some questioning. 

Bayley leaned closer to Charlotte so she could be heard without shouting. “Siobhan and I said hi to a few people while you were away, kept her facing away from the cage. I assume that’s what you would have wanted?”

“Have I told you enough how amazing you are?” Charlotte asked as she picked up another handful of nachos.

“Got us some beers coming as well. Want to talk about that now or later?” Bayley asked.

“You know how I never really talk about my other brother?” Charlotte offered up for Bayley to put two and two together. 

“You HAVE another brother?” Bayley asked, stunned by the out of nowhere revelation.

“And apparently he thinks tonight was the perfect night to try and reconcile.” Rolling her eyes as she chewed on the nachos. 

Bayley’s brain was whirling at this new information as she desperately tried to catch up with the situation. “I...what?” was all she managed to say before she forced herself to collect her thoughts. “I met your dad, talked to him several times, he never once mentioned other kids!”

“I love my dad but he and David had a weird relationship.” Charlotte admitted. “Technically he’s only half-brother. Got to love having a parent with multiple marriages.”

“So...it’s just one other sibling?” Bayley asked.

“... Plus one more.” Charlotte said sheepishly.

Bayley blinked several times. “We need to have a long talk sometime soon. For now, is everything OK with you?”

“I’m tired, underslept, overworked, and now I get to watch my wife fight someone in a cage.” Charlotte laid out. “All in all, I’m doing about as good as can be expected.”

“I’ve got some beers on ice for later if you like?”

  
“Much as I’d love to take you up on that, Becky insisted on going out after the fight.” Charlotte said as the arena lights began to dim and the highlight promotional video began to play on the large screens. “Tomorrow? Or at least before you fly back home.”

“It’s a date,” Bayley said with a smile as she checked to see if Siobhan still had her phone.

Siobhan looked up, the big screens basically impossible to ignore and opened her mouth in awe. Forgetting all about the phone and picking at the fabric of Charlotte’s top. “Mommy, mommy! Look, look! It’s mama!” She exclaimed louder than necessary because of the earmuffs blocking out the worst of the noise. 

  
  


**Sasha**

On the other side of the country, Sasha was sitting in her wheelchair preparing to watch the fight. Though for the first time in a long time she would be spending the evening with other people. 

“You thirsty, champ?” Teddy asked as he held out a mug toward her. Sasha looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

“Coffee at this hour for you?” Sasha asked him.

“It’s brandy, playa,” Teddy said as he dropped onto the couch beside where Sasha had parked her chair.

“Why the hell you have ten thousand dollar glassware set over there if you’re gonna drink out of a coffee cup?” Sasha asked him incredulously. 

“That’s for show, this is for family. I’m sure the big man has told you about the early days here,” Teddy said as he held out his mug toward her. Sasha rolled her eyes but clinked her mug on his. She had indeed heard the stories about the ‘good old days’ from both Bobby and Teddy. Looking around the ornate throne room that Teddy now called an office it was hard to dispute that the team had really made it. 

“Who do you like tonight?” Sasha asked with a nod at the TV.

“You don’t want to ask me that, playa,” Teddy said with a laugh.

“Why not?”

“Because your friend is looking past Storm, and Storm is going to make her pay for it.” Sasha didn’t answer, choosing instead to take a sip of her drink. There wasn’t really anything to be said in response. Even if she had wanted to give voice to what she was thinking, loyalty to her friend would have prevented her from doing so. 

But she didn’t think Teddy was wrong.

  
  


**Becky**

Everything was set. The door to the cage was locked and the referee called the two combatants to the center of the ring. 

  
“We’ve been over the rules. Let’s have a clean fight. Listen to what I say at all times. Good luck. Touch gloves if you want to.”

Neither Becky or Toni thought about it for even a moment as they turned and walked back to their side of the cage. The point of no return. A quick few seconds before the referee called out to each competitor once more before the clock started and the first round was underway. 

The first minute went by without much action. Just like Becky had thought all of Toni’s setups were things she’d seen- hell, she’d even drilled most of these with her. By the time the punch was thrown Becky was already moving out of the way. Ring rust be damned. This was just as easy as she’d thought. A sly grin stretching her lips around the mouthguard. Reading every movement perfectly as she ducked under a punch and quickly traversed the space between them. Grabbing on to Toni’s waist and pressing her forward till her back was on the cage. Becky pressed her against the cage. Simply making the other woman carry her weight and take away her energy as her feet moved into position. Waiting for the perfect moment when Toni tried to rotate off the cage to use her momentum against her and trip the current champ. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t work as well as Becky would have hoped. Toni’s balance was impressive although that shouldn’t come as a surprise considering how many times she’d been beaten by Becky during grappling sessions. As much as it sucks in the moment, training with someone much better than you makes improvement inevitable. Toni had definitely improved leaps and bounds since they’d been regularly training together. Instead of ending up on the ground with Becky on top, Toni was able to stay upright and use a quick scramble to break the redhead’s grip on her waist and reset back in the center of the cage. 

Using all that energy to try and get Toni to the ground and ultimately failing was a little disheartening but Becky knew the game. Sometimes your first strategy doesn’t work and you need to adjust sooner rather than later. 

Toni kept on the outside, circling herself away from the cage to always stay in the center. Becky playing the role of the herder as she tried to use her footwork and cut off her opponent and force her back to the cage where there just wasn’t as much room to avoid a takedown attempt. Flicking out her jab as Toni kept finding ways to avoid putting herself in a bad position. Slowly but surely throwing more strikes of her own as she gauged the distance between them. 

Becky heard someone yell out, “One minute!” Biting down on her mouthpiece as she threw a sloppy kick that Toni easily dodged. Eating a stiff right cross as penance for her lazy kick. Toni’s constant movement was irritating to say the least. She’d only landed a handful of good shots but nothing that really got her opponent off balance. With time in the round waning Becky took a chance and charged forward, reaching for a single leg takedown. Trying to force it even though Toni wasn’t set up for it which gave the New Zealander the space she needed to extend her arm and press off Becky’s face. It's a completely legal technique in theory but unfortunately for the former champ one of Toni’s fingers ended up squarely in her eye. Making it even worse was that in all the movement the referee didn’t even see the eye poke. 

When you get poked in the eye it's basically impossible to not react to it. Which left her guard open for Toni to follow up. Mixing punches in with kicks to the midsection that landed easily. After the first hit Becky turtles up and defends the best she can but her eye didn’t want to cooperate with her. 

She guarded her head the best one could without being able to see but a strong kick to the outside of her knee caught Becky unaware and she toppled to the ground with a thud. 

Thankfully the bell rang before Toni could continue the onslaught and Becky slowly got back to her feet. Brushing off the referee’s attempt to look at her and walking back to her corner where Johnny was waiting for her with a stool which she gladly sat down on and an ice pack he quickly shoved over her still unable to open eye. 

  
  


**Sasha**

Sasha’s eye’s tightened as she watched the end of the round. Things were going poorly for Becky indeed. As one of only a handful of women who could claim to have ever beaten Becky Lynch, Sasha had to admire Toni’s game plan. It was exactly what she would have been doing in the Kiwi’s situation.

“Told you,” Teddy said as he stood and walked over to the bar.

“She’s got time,” Sasha answered. It was true but Sasha knew her words were hollow. Becky Lynch fought from her heart, she blazed hot in the cage. It meant that when someone had her on her back foot, her greatest strength could become her greatest weakness. Sasha knew that Becky was a pro and that it was too early to count her out entirely but things weren’t trending well for her friend.

“Remind her who you are,” Sasha whispered to the picture of her friend on the TV.

  
  


**Becky**

  
  


“How bad is it?” Johnny asked. Even if he wasn’t Bobby, Becky respected that he knew what he was talking about. 

“It’s fine. Water.” She commanded as the bottle was put in her hand. Becky could already tell that she wasn’t going to be seeing anything from that left eye anytime soon, but she'd never admit that out loud. Not with the cameras they always had shoved in the fighter's face between rounds. Clearly trying to focus a shot on her damaged eye to show off to the crowd. If the referee heard a fighter admit they couldn’t see they were supposed to automatically call for the end of the fight. 

Becky heard a sudden gasp and a lot of noise from the crowd. Looking up with her one good eye at the big screen replaying the moment Toni’s finger dug knuckle deep in her eye, in beautiful, crisp high definition. If it hadn’t happened to her Becky would have made a crass joke at the disgusting visual. 

“You’ve got to work more. Keeps her busy with your hands before your takedowns. Try to catch those kicks when they come in.”

Becky knew all the advice Johnny gave was technically correct but she found it hard to concentrate. She’d been confident early on but Toni was showing that she wasn’t the same fighter Becky had faced in the gym. If the referee had actually noticed the eye poke she’d gladly have taken some of the five-minute time out after an illegal strike. Maybe she’d have been able to regain some vision before continuing, but the next round was starting and both corners left the cage again. 

  
She could feel the referee and ringside doctors' eyes watching her so Becky did her best to open her injured eye and pretend like it was working properly. No fighter wanted a fight to end because of a doctor’s stoppage. 

It must have worked well enough because the ref called for the next round to begin and Becky moved forward quickly to try and take the center of the cage away from Toni. 

Toni made a point to circle towards Becky’s injured eye. She may not know that Becky could only see vague blurs from that side but she clearly knew it was bothering her. 

The first few minutes of the round could only be described as frustrating for the Irish fighter. Toni would keep throwing techniques that Becky would barely see. Her own attempts to counter usually falling short as her depth perception started lying to her. She felt like the other woman was starting to toy with her and Becky’s pride was stung harder than some of the punches that landed. 

Which led to her overextending with a right hook and leaving her head exposed for a flush kick to land right behind her ear. 

For a second Becky’s body didn’t want to listen to her and she started falling to the ground. A buzz in her head that blocked out the sound of the crowd she could see standing up. She didn’t see the follow-up up shot that Toni landed on her chin but it actually helped jolt her body back awake. Turning onto her side and covering her head against the flurry of elbows. Blocking some of them, but not all. The sharp elbows cutting through her defense and rocking her head back into the canvas hard enough for an audibly disgusting thump echoed loudly. 

“Thirty seconds!”    
  
Becky wasn’t sure whose corner had yelled that or if it was just someone in the crowd but knowing the round was nearly over brought a bit of desperation. She didn’t want to end another round being on the ground and tried to get back to her feet. Using proper technique and getting a foot on Toni’s hip to push off as she scrambled back up. The only problem was that Toni adjusted perfectly and moved right past her legs into a full mount. Sitting down on Becky’s stomach and taking her legs out of the equation. 

It might have been the first elbow, or any of the other that followed, but Becky had honestly no idea where she was. Only that something was hitting her very hard and instinctively trying to get away. Those years of knowledge and technique are pretty useless when you’ve been hit so hard you are actually seeing stars. 

  
Becky couldn’t remember when she’d ended up on this stool or when Johnny had gotten so close. Her mouth felt swollen and didn’t want to work, but she could clearly taste the familiar copper taste of her own blood. When had her eye stopped working? 

  
  


**Sasha**

  
  


“What do you think?” Teddy asked quietly.

Sasha had no answer for him. She tried to take another sip of her drink but found that she had drained it. The last round had been as stressful as anything she’d experienced recently. And given what she had been dealing with lately, that was saying something. It had been many years since Sasha had been able to watch a fight like this. A spectator, not as a fighter waiting in the back. 

She might have expected to feel some regret at this, but she didn’t. Instead she was feeling introspective. Oddly, it was a valuable experience. She was now learning how Bayley had been feeling for years when she was forced to watch Sasha fight. The powerful mixture of excitement and fear was exhilarating in a way, but far more frustrating in the end for Sasha. She was used to being in that cage, not watching it.

Worse, when you were a spectator you couldn’t help but analyze what you had seen. And for someone who was as knowledgeable as Sasha was about fighting, this meant a very comprehensive picture. And what she was seeing was not good at all. She’d seen the replay of Storm’s probably unintentional thumb to Becky’s eye. Intentional or not, it was clearly playing a huge factor in the course of the fight.

As Sasha had noted to herself earlier, Becky fought from her heart. And it was clear that doubt was beginning to set in for her. Nothing could be more dangerous for Sasha’s friend. If something didn’t change dramatically, and soon, Becky was in real danger. If the third round looked like it would run like the previous two she could only think of one possible solution.

“I think…” she said as she toyed with the handle of her mug “...I think they should keep the towel ready.”

  
  


**Charlotte/Bayley**

Charlotte could vaguely remember where she was when Becky Lynch was slayed by the newcomer Sasha Banks. Anyone with a passing connection to MMA remembered that night. She’d cheered in astonishment at the dominant champion being overthrown like everyone else. At the time Becky was just a talented fighter to the blonde. Not her wife. If anything she’d kind of hated the redhead on principle back then. Always a little inclined to cheer for the underdog like Sasha against the arrogant, brash Irish woman. 

In all their years actually together Becky hadn’t lost a fight and Charlotte didn’t realize how much she’d taken that for granted till now. Even if she knew how dangerous being a fighter was, she’d somehow come to just expect her wife to come back relatively unscathed. 

She wasn’t the only one. Siobhan had long since climbed onto her lap and her face was buried in the blonde’s shoulder. Charlotte did what she could to calm the little one but there wasn’t much she could do. If it had just been her Charlotte wouldn’t dream of leaving the cage side in a situation like this but if there was one thing she knew about her wife, Becky would want what was best for their child. She’d already been thinking of walking them backstage and the feel of wetness against her neck solidified her decision. 

Tightening her arms around Siobhan as she got ready to stand. Looking over at Bayley for the first time since the round started. “We’re going to go back to Becky’s locker room.” She plainly stated. She knew Bayley didn’t need her to explain why. 

“I’ll wait outside. Just let me know if you need anything,” Bayley said as she squeezed Charlotte’s shoulder. She knew that on a purely professional level, she ought to be trying to ask Charlotte Flair, team owner, some questions. But her relationship with Charlotte Flair, her friend, was far more important to her. So she decided to hold off. 

Charlotte offered a weak smile as she accidentally caught sight of the big screen showing a slow-mo mo replay of her wife getting smashed in the face and grimaced. “Thanks. I think she just needs to be not here right now.” 

“I understand, you going out the back?” Bayley asked.

“It’s probably the quickest way. See you later Bay.” Charlotte said before she carefully, but quickly maneuvered through the aisles towards the nearest exit on the arena floor. Siobhan didn’t need to be out there a second longer. 

**Becky**

  
  


“Becky! You here with me?”

She nodded, but by the look on Johnny’s face he didn’t like the answer. The crowd started buzzing loudly but Becky had no idea why. Not even noticing the camera getting a close look at her thoroughly mangled face. The nose was clearly broken, eye red and swollen to the point you could hardly see the eye’s pupil, and a massive hematoma on her forehead that looked like someone shoved a grapefruit between her skin and skull. One cut in particular that Toni’s elbows had opened just in her hairline doing a great job to cover that all in a crimson mask. 

“I’m gonna call this thing,” Johnny said with disappointment as he turned to talk to the referee,

Becky’s hand shot out like a bullet to grab onto his hand and pull him back. “You call this and you’re gone from the gym.” 

Maybe Lashley would have not listened to her and been prepared to deal with a pissed off Becky Lynch. 

Before the next round started Johnny wiped the blood from her face and gave her a worried look of apprehension. 

Until she watched it back, Becky wouldn’t remember any of this last round. It was only when she was being helped out of the cage did she realize what had happened. The image of Shane McMahon wrapping the belt around Toni Storm’s waist hitting her heart just before the adrenaline finally began to subside and the waves of all-encompassing pain swept through her body as she leaned heavier onto whoever’s shoulder she was using to not fall down. 

  
  


**Sasha**

“Well, shit…” Sasha muttered as she accepted another glass of brandy from Teddy. She’d known how badly the fight was going from early on but something it still felt odd that they were here. Becky Lynch had lost, and not only lost but lost decisively.

“You think she’ll want a rematch?” Teddy asked from the couch.

“Not sure,” Sasha said, honestly. She knew that Becky’s instinct would be to get back in the cage but she also knew that this kind of loss would shake the Irish woman. What she would do after the physical damage from the fight healed was anyone's guess.

“Well, I-...” Teddy started to say something but Sasha never heard the end of it. She had been staring absentmindedly at the screen, thinking about what she had just seen, when her own name had appeared to draw her focus. Watching the crawl along the bottom of the screen, Sasha read the news update that was scrolling past.

“... _ announces via Twitter that the Women's Flyweight Championship will be vacated due to Banks being unable to defend the title as a result of injuries sustained during a car accident.” _

The mug shattered as it hit the floor. __

  
  


**Becky**

Each corner had an assigned room for a post-fight medical check-up and all a person had to do was walk past the rooms to know which one housed the winner and loser. 

Beyond some poor soul who’d been clearly ordered to ask if she was up for an interview, no one else spoke around Becky. She found some dark humor in the fact that everyone she’d ever defeated had gone through a similar pain. The fight over and history written in permanent ink. There was nothing more to do but sit with the result. Aches and pain much easier to ignore with the comfort of a victory. Silence making it all too easy to hang her head, uncaring of the steady drops of blood onto the floor. 

  
The physical pain was bad enough. Adrenaline continued to fade which led to her body loudly protesting the abuse. This wasn’t meant to be something the human body endured regularly. Beyond that, Becky’s head didn’t want to accept reality. Along with that came a whole host of questions she’d rather not answer right now. 

She couldn’t remember the doctor's name but she’d known before they’d even started looking at her that there was an inevitable ambulance ride in her near future. 

Johnny dutifully helped her hobble out of the room. Most of the blood on her face wiped away, but she could feel the itchiness around her hairline where it had dried. Becky didn’t need a mirror to know she looked like an awful mess. Nor did she need to touch her forehead to feel how swollen and tightly stretched her skin was. It felt like the smallest touch of a dull pencil could pop it. 

A sudden voice calling her name had Becky stiffening and pushing off Johnny to stand on her own two feet steadily as was possible with her head feeling like it was stuffed to the brim with cotton balls. 

“Hey, Charlie.” Even Becky knew her voice was remarkably forced. The very moment she’d turned and caught sight of Charlotte walking towards her with Siobhan tucked neatly into her shoulder, it hit harder than some of Toni’s shots in the ring. “Baby.” She cooed softly in an attempt to comfort the obviously distressed child. It hadn’t even really hit her till this moment. Did that make her a horrible mother? Becky couldn’t think about that right now. Shuffling over to them as quickly as she could without toppling. 

  
Charlotte tried to stay strong for Siobhan but it wasn’t exactly easy for her to see Becky struggling to walk the fifteen feet between them. “Hospital?” She wanted to ask more but found the words catching in her throat.

Becky spared an apologetic, sad look for her wife before focusing back on the child who still wouldn’t turn her face away from Charlotte’s neck. “Ye’... But I’ll be jus’ fine.” The words couldn’t be more hollow if she’d tried, but Becky hoped it was enough to fool her daughter. Her heart twisting something painful as the pulse of her own blood grew louder. 

Nothing on earth could have prepared Becky for when Siobhan peered out from her hiding space. Beautiful blue eyes wide and bright with tears that had yet to fall only for them to cascade like a waterfall when she saw the grotesque image of Becky’s swollen, bloody face. Crying out loudly with gut-wrenching sobs that stole the air from the fighter’s lungs, and swiftly burying her face back in Charlotte’s shoulder. 

For a moment Becky stood paralyzed at the horror in her daughter’s face. All from her. She pushed those feelings down and swallowed down the massive lump in her throat. Pressing a kiss to Siobhan’s head and trying to not be offended at the way she flinched and pressed closer to Charlotte.

Charlotte offered the redhead a small smile and carefully pulled Becky into a very, very light kiss. “I’m dropping her off at Liv and Ruby’s place. I’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as I can. Ok?”

Becky nodded. There wasn’t any point arguing with Charlotte when she used that voice. Everything ached and the only thing Becky wanted was for this night to be over. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> (We had an A03 posting error earlier, the story is fixed!)
> 
> AND WE'RE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> First, let me say thank you for all your patience in the long long wait for this sequel. AND for your indulgence in our seemingly endless side projects. We had fun writing them for you, but now it's time to give the people what they want. I know this first chapter was a big punch right in the feelings...but that's part of the fun, right? 
> 
> To our returning readers, welcome back we really have missed you. For our new readers, welcome aboard friends! We're glad to have you here. Make sure to leave a kudo if you liked the story, a comment if you want to talk to us about it (we will answer), and don't forget to bookmark so you don't miss any updates! (We're working to cut down on the wait time between them this time around!)
> 
> Thanks for Reading!
> 
> PS - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
> 
> PPS - Happy Birthday Clex!


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